Denmark won Euro 1992: Fairy tales are not unrealistic

Entering the Euro 1992 finals is more difficult than entering the finals World Cup

It is true that the Danish team at Euro 1992 could not pass qualifying round of this tournament. However, there is a detail that people who have not been following football for a long time rarely pay attention to.

That detail lies in the fact that from 1992 onwards Before the Euro finals were only for 8 teams (instead of 16 from the 1996 to 2012 tournament or up to 24 teams like from Euro 2016 to present). qualifying group with the home team of the finals (Sweden).

Back then, many people thought that winning tickets to the Euro finals was more difficult than attending the World Cup finals.

Denmark in the Euro 1992 qualifiers took place in 1990 and 1991, not is a weak team if not to say they are quite strong with brothers Michael and Brian Laudrup striker Bent Christensen or the later extremely famous goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.

The Nordic team is quite strong but was still eliminated because, as mentioned, that year’s Euro qualifiers only selected the top team to enter the finals, but Denmark was unlucky to be in group 4 of the qualifying round with the (former) Yugoslavia team, which was extremely strong and was compared. with the entire Brazilian team at that time (at the end of the qualifying round, Yugoslavia had 14 points, Denmark had 13 points).

If you want to know how strong Yugoslavia was at that time, you have to look at its achievements. Yugoslav football was won before and even after the dissolution of (former) Yugoslavia.

In 1991, the core of the Yugoslav team, wearing the Red Star Belgrade club, won the European Cup (the predecessor of today’s UEFA Champions League). A year earlier, the Yugoslav team reached the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, only to lose to Maradona’s Argentina in the penalty shootout.

Even after the dissolution of (former) Yugoslavia, the football talents of this country continue to make waves throughout Europe.

This number has Dejan Savicevic as the soul of the famous AC Milan who defeated the giant Barcelona (back then there was Romario Stoichkov Laudrup…) 4-0 in the 1994 Champions League final. Predrag Mijatovic helped recover. Born Real Madrid into the European arena by winning the 1998 Champions League (Real’s first title after the last time they won the cup in… 1966).

Then the Croatian team was so stunned. world at Euro 1996 and World Cup 1998 with Davor Suker Robert Prosinecki Zvonimir Boban… is also a part separated from (former) Yugoslavia.

Fairy tales are not unrealistic< /strong> 

Because the Yugoslav team was so strong back then, the fact that Denmark could not surpass Yugoslavia in Group 4 of the Euro 1992 qualifying round was considered… natural. The Nordic team was forced to finish second in this group simply because they faced a stronger opponent.

So when Denmark changed Yugoslavia attended the Euro 1992 finals with a qualifying ticket because the country of Yugoslavia was embargoed on a global scale. In fact, a strong team was replaced by another strong team.

The stories that followed were told. All were added with a few details like the coach of the Danish team at that time, Mr. Richard Moeller Nielsen, received information about qualifying for the 1992 European Championship when he was redoing the kitchen for his wife to quickly throw away the things. career aside and immediately drove to the capital city of Copenhagen to inform the whole team.

Or the story of Brian Laudrup preparing to go to the US on vacation but canceling the trip in time to attend the Euro… are the details that make making the Danish championship even more thrilling. Those details, in fact, until now no one has been able to verify them and are no longer important.

The following incident is true. The player is considered the greatest player in Danish football history. Michael Laudrup refused to play for the team participating in the Euro 1992 finals even though coach Nielsen asked him to.

1992 was the year that Laudrup’s brother had just won the European Cup with Barcelona. That was the first time that Spain’s Catalan giants won the title. There’s no need to imagine how glorious that title helped Barcelona’s players at that time.

Michael Laudrup did not want to cancel the summer vacation he had scheduled in advance and it turned out to be a decisive decision. perhaps the most unfortunate thing in the professional career of the player who is considered the greatest in Danish football.

Another story that is also true is that the Danish team only had exactly 10 days to prepare for the match. Euro 1992 finals from gathering troops to practice to moving.

And then because of the rushthe sponsors couldn’t prepare for us in time. Therefore, Danish players must wear U21 team uniforms. When viewers saw us in the first group stage match against England, the Danish players were wearing clothes that were a bit tight for their size – famous goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel recalled in a retrospective. about the magical Euro nearly 30 years ago.

And another detail that is definitely true is that the last Danish team won the European Championship in 1992, writing a fairy tale in everyday life. However, it is a fairy tale that can be completely explained professionally!