For the first time in eight years, Germany wins in the knockout round of a major tournament: thanks to a 2:0 win against Denmark, the hosts are through to the European Championship quarter-finals.
The round of 16 in Dortmund was decided in a matter of minutes. Almost everything revolved around Joachim Andersen, the Danish central defender from Crystal Palace. The 28-year-old first scored the supposed 1-0 in the 48th minute, which was disallowed due to a close offside. Just a few minutes later, Andersen was dealt a second blow by the VAR: the video referee recognized a handball in the hapless Andersen's own penalty area. Kai Havertz scored from the penalty spot before Jamal Musiala made the difference a quarter of an hour later with his third European Championship goal.
It was a good end to a rather laborious evening for Germany in Dortmund. The hosts exuded less control than at this European Championship. This may have been due to the surprising changes made by national coach Julian Nagelsmann to his starting line-up compared to the three matches in the preliminary round, which started with the same formation. In addition to Nico Schlotterbeck, who was expected to start in place of the suspended Jonathan Tah, Leroy Sané came in for Florian Wirtz and David Raum for Maximilian Mittelstädt.
The Germans' determination was impressive and the chances they created were good, especially those in the first ten minutes. However, they lacked security in defense and the Danes repeatedly created good chances. The three-time European champions' play was somewhat reminiscent of their performances at recent finals, when Germany were so susceptible to counter-attacks. Christian Eriksen and Co. knew how to exploit this: Seconds before the break, only the intervention of Manuel Neuer prevented the excellent Danish counter-attack from going 1-0 up.
Denmark caused Germany to falter. Shortly after the break, Germany were again just a few centimeters away from scoring the opening goal. Only the technical team recognized Thomas Delaney's close offside when Andersen scored. Instead of chasing a goal as they did against Switzerland, Germany were able to play from a position of strength in the last half hour or so, scoring 2:0 through Jamal Musiala on the counter-attack and shining with a number of other fine moves.
Only the thunderstorm after 25 minutes, which had caused an interruption of almost half an hour, caused a thunderstorm. However, the numerous tricky moments in the neighboring duel were definitely a warning for the German team ahead of the quarter-finals, which will take place next Friday in Stuttgart. Their opponents will then probably be the impressive Spain - or, in the event of a sensation in the fourth round of 16 on Sunday evening, the outsiders Georgia.
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