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Expectations, tactics, armbands: Denmark’s Qatar postmortem begins | Denmark

Was it the expectations? Was it the armbands? Was it the tinkering? Or did Denmark just not have what it took to progress as expected at this World Cup? The postmortem can now begin for the team ranked 10th in the world, because Kasper Hjulmand’s men are going home.

Their second defeat was in keeping with all but brief periods of their two other matches in Qatar: insipid. A team that had stormed their way to the semi-finals of the European Championship last year, and romped through qualification, didn’t look as if they had the belief to win a game against Australia.

Last year Denmark were driven by unique factors absent from this World Cup. Most important was the desire to play for their stricken playmaker Christian Eriksen, but there was also the effect of playing at home during the group stages, in front of crowds who were similarly animated. Here in the Gulf Danish fans are in short supply and they were outnumbered by Aussies at the Al Janoub stadium. Eriksen, meanwhile, is restored to the side but has proven far from the talisman of previous years.

Denmark have also been denied a second cause to play for this year. Among the European nations who have spoken out on issues of migrant labour rights and LGBTQ+ equality, Denmark have been perhaps the most vocal. They agreed to wear the OneLove armband and produced versions of their training and playing kits that would acknowledge the deaths of migrant workers caused by this tournament. But none of the items have been worn.

Kasper Hjulmand applauds fans after the defeat to Australia. — Kasper Hjulmand applauds fans after the defeat to Australia confirmed Denmark’s exit from the World Cup Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA

Fifa’s late, unspecified threat of sporting sanctions against players who wore the armband was accompanied by a straightforward “no political messaging” ban on the training gear. Unlike Australia, who concentrated on delivering their own – powerful – video message before the tournament, Denmark found themselves deprived of their plan and unable to create an alternative. After the opening draw against Tunisia, Hjulmand said the affair had disconcerted his players. On Wednesday he strongly denied it was still an issue. But regular Danish observers, watching a team so unlike themselves, said they were not so sure.

Hjulmand did admit his team had been affected mentally, acknowledging composure had been lacking against Australia. “We haven’t played with the right tempo and rhythm,” he said. “The structure just went out of the match and we were too emotional. The thing we shouldn’t do is play with emotion in a match like this, we should play with quality. But the football sucked.”

The absence of Simon Kjær will not have helped in terms of mental resilience, the captain proving so crucial in galvanising Denmark last year. But it was surely also the case that Hjulmand made some bad decisions during the tournament.

Speaking after the match the coach did not stint in criticising the levels of performance. “It’s a big disappointment and it’s not going to be good to look back on,” he said. But when he does pore over the videos – providing the Danish Football Association does not intercede first – Hjulmand may reflect on why he had clearly not settled on a preferred attacking system before the tournament, instead changing shape and personnel up front for each of the three matches, with an attendant shift in approach.

Against Australia, his team needed to win but a decision to abandon the familiar back three in favour of a four did not provide a greater attacking impetus. Instead, it not only appeared to stymie the attacking forays of his wing-backs but left his team open to the counter, something exacerbated when a double substitution led to the system switching from 4-2-3-1 to 4-1-4-1 on the hour. The Socceroos finally exploited the vulnerability a minute later, breaking three on three for the winning goal.

Tactics played their part, and a lack of a sharp striking option surely cost Denmark, too. Ultimately, though, it seems that what undermined this team the most was something going on inside them and, right now, only they know what it was.

‘Now these guys are heroes’: Socceroos bound into last-16 date with Argentina | World Cup 2022

The Melbourne sky was red with the flares of Federation Square, a heaving party of thousands in the dead of night on a Thursday that exploded in euphoria with the swing of Mathew Leckie’s left boot. In Sydney’s CBD, patrons in a handful of packed pubs spilled out on to George Street as the forward raced off in celebration and then “got slapped in the head about 100 times” by teammates.

For Australia, that goal is immediate sporting folklore. It is the goal that sank Denmark. It is the one that captured those three precious points, the one to seal back-to-back World Cup wins for the first time in the nation’s history, and the one to confirm a place in the round of 16 not achieved in 16 years.

At full-time the Socceroos bench emptied on to the pitch, drowning out the Danish despair around them, leaping into wild hugs and burying the head coach, Graham Arnold, so far inside the clutch of bodies that Kasper Hjulmand could not immediately locate his counterpart to congratulate him. The winger Martin Boyle, kept in camp despite being ruled out with an anterior cruciate ligament tear, waved his crutches like a maniac.

“Everyone was buzzing, screaming a lot of nonsense,” Leckie said. “So much emotion. But we want to dream big, and when we came to this tournament we always said we want to get out of the group. The first thing Arnie said was: ‘Let’s go one more.’”

Men at Work’s Down Under, and Waltzing Matilda, rang out through Doha. “Give us a public holiday,” read one of the banners in the crowd at Al Janoub Stadium, where thousands of diehards had made what had seemed, before the tournament, a thankless pilgrimage to Qatar to watch an unheralded team do unheralded things.

Australia, ranked 38 by Fifa, had barely squeaked into the draw, qualifying second-last of the 32 teams via a penalty shootout in a playoff against Peru. Some three months before, Arnold had been publicly pilloried and almost sacked. Next to nobody in their own country gave them a chance. Not many back home knew any of their names.

The Socceroos have long languished in the shadow of the 2006 “golden generation”, the class of Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill and Mark Schwarzer. They were the last team to make the knockout stages of a World Cup, when Arnold was assistant to Guus Hiddink.

Mathew Leckie scores Australia’s winning goal against Denmark. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters

The holy grail has since eluded the country. It is a modest objective by international standards. It had certainly been for the 10th-ranked Denmark. But football sits on the fifth rung of popularity in Australia’s sporting landscape. Its grassroots participation does not convert to professionalism, and there is no money to speak of.

But this group, half of whom have 10 caps or fewer, have been preaching team unity from the start. They come from heritages including South Sudanese, Bosnian, Croatian, Turkish-Cypriot and South African. The Scottish influence is the strongest. They represent modern Australia in the truest sense, and may yet be the catalyst for a long-awaited overhaul of the country’s stunted development pathways.

“We started this journey four and a half years ago,” said Rene Muelensteen, the assistant coach who met Arnold years before that when the latter spent a week at Manchester United while completing his pro licence.

“A lot of credit to Arnie, when we first got together he said: ‘I want to create the greatest Socceroos team ever.’ That message has been the motivation to carry us through that four and a half years, with all the hindrances that we had [qualifying through Asia]. Never mind the distances we have to travel, and only playing four games in Australia. But it has created enormous strength from within.

“We knew from the word go we were going to do something special. We never got carried away by the 4-1 loss to France. Maybe a lot of people dropped their expectations. We knew there was no expectation from outside except from ourselves. Now these guys are heroes.”

Kewell, who is now the commentary box, tweeted: “Over the moon! What an achievement.”

Mark Bosnich, one of Arnold’s biggest critics, posted his “massive congratulations”. He tweeted: “Minor miracle being there, proper miracle now. Superb achievement.”

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, hailed the “magnificent win”. He will be under pressure to announce that public holiday.

“As a young boy you dream big,” Leckie said. “Watching the Socceroos play World Cups could have, in the back of my head, been the reason I wanted to be a footballer. It’s moments like this that build the game and potentially give young kids inspiration to want to do the same.”

Mat Leckie strike stuns Denmark and sends Australia into World Cup last 16 | World Cup 2022

Sometimes football is not beautiful. Sometimes doing just enough, for just long enough, can lay the foundation, open the door. So it was that a counter-attack ended Australia’s agony and Denmark’s World Cup campaign. It took 60 minutes for Mat Leckie to score, an endless hour of mostly last-ditch defending and some positive moments, and a goal from Tunisia against France that meant the Socceroos would have to win or be out themselves.

In the end it was Denmark’s second-half impotence that ended their tournament prematurely, their early brightness dissipating in the face of a Socceroos side which left it late but rallied when it had to and once again displayed a level of quality belying their inexperience.

And hands were held to mouths inside Al Janoub Stadium right up until the final whistle, as Christian Eriksen whipped in two dangerous corners and Harry Souttar made one, two, three vital interventions to send Graham Arnold’s side into the round of 16 for the first time since 2006. On Saturday they will play one of Argentina, Poland or Saudi Arabia depending on Wednesday night’s results, in a continuation of a World Cup brimming with upsets and implosions.

The latter is Denmark’s lot. Coach Kasper Hjulmand needed three points to stay in calculations, and even then would have been undone by Tunisia’s defeat of a second-string France side resting sore bodies for the knockout stages in the knowledge they had already qualified. The scenes of jubilation and heartbreak were already well under way when Antoine Griezmann seemingly equalised for France off the bench, meaning a draw would have sufficed, only to have it chalked off.

The question had always been which Denmark would show up: the lethargic one who drew with Tunisia or the courageous version who lost to France only through the quality of Kylian Mbappé. Mbappé was among nine changes named by Didier Deschamps over at Education City Stadium, sending a wave of consternation across town – a Tunisia win was no good for either side here.

And as Tunisia set about bossing the B team, Eriksen started the match free and on the move through the middle, only thwarted by Milos Degenek. In the very next moment Riley McGree had gone for a long-range shot, grinning after it ricocheted off Joakim Mæhle.

That set the tone and the following 20 minutes unfolded as thus: Aaron Mooy turned the ball over cheaply inside Australia’s half. Mæhle nutmegged Degenek as Leckie chased in vein. In the end the task fell to Mat Ryan. Again and again he contorted his limbs into a kind of doorstopper, his goal line welcoming no man. Leaping high at his near post to deny Jensen, slamming down a foot to stop a rolling ball, racing off his line to stop Martin Braithwaite before he was even played in.

Mitchell Duke found McGree’s chest and the shot fizzed straight to Kasper Schmeichel. Souttar’s head was closer to the sky than the rest. Tunisia scored; it was ruled offside.

Referee Mustapha Ghorbal was throwing himself about too. Aziz Behich had a yellow card within three minutes for a cynical tug of Skov Olsen. Jesper Lindstrøm was penalised for a push on Degenek. Leckie was harshly pulled up for a tangle with Christensen, earning the ire of the green-and-gold corner. Olsen was somehow not booked for sliding straight through the back of Duke.

Denmark were slick and smooth on the ball. They pinned their opponents down with precise passing, considered and effective, a picture of economy to Australia’s toil. Eriksen was free and floating at leisure, the outside of his left boot a tourist in a new neighbourhood. The whole thing was lovely to watch.

They were livelier at the start, too. The fear for Australia was that the Socceroos had already played their final against Tunisia. It was hard to tell if it was fatigue or the enormity of the occasion, but Lindstrøm was having a field day down the left flank, nutmegging Souttar to Maehle who was thwarted by Aaron Mooy.

Australia’s brightest moment arrived in first-half stoppage-time when Duke teed up Craig Goodwin who, hurtling towards the left corner flag, skimmed a low cross nobody was there to convert.

Half-time can change games. We saw it last week when Hervé Renard blew a rocket up his Saudi Arabia and they came back to beat Argentina. We do not know what transpired in the Australian dressing room at the break but they emerged revitalised. Territory was reclaimed, then ceded once again. Rowles was smacked clean in the chest by Olsen and doubled over. Lindstrøm cut infield and readied to shoot.

Tunisia scored. Arnold had a word with his dugout. An Eriksen corner sailed agonisingly close to goal. Australia intercepted and McGree passed to Leckie. He ran into acres of space at the halfway line, dribbled around Maehle and curved a terrific finish which whistled across Schmeichel and snuck into the bottom-right corner.

Denmark lost their marbles then – and a penalty. Eriksen swung in a high free-kick and Ghorbal blew for a penalty as Souttar downed Dolberg in the box. No sooner had he done it, the offside flag went up on Dolberg.

Keanu Baccus, off the bench, drew a foul and yellow card from Robert Skov. Arnold made more substitutions and brought on Jamie MacLaren for Duke, and then defender Bailey Wright, who replaced McGree to help keep Denmark’s late flurry at bay for six minutes of stoppage-time as Souttar produced moments of grit which will once again earn plaudits.

When the full-time whistle blew Australia’s bench stormed the pitch, and the coach was so buried within the bodies that Hjulmand had to fish him out to shake his hand.

Emotional Denmark focused on must-win clash with Australia | World Cup 2022

Kasper Hjulmand leaned into the microphone, arms folded on the press conference table in front of him, impassive, borderline serene. Then, softly and with little intonation, he explained that emotions in the Denmark camp are running “very, very high”.

“It is a World Cup,” he continued. “With football you can multiply your feelings by 10, and the fear of losing is very, very much involved. How can we best handle that? These considerations you have to make.”

These are considerations Hjulmand is making right now – or perhaps has made already, in the days since Saturday’s 2-1 loss to leaders France left his team contemplating an imminent exit from a group they were anticipated to roll through with no fuss.

On pre-tournament form, which included two Nations League wins over Didier Deschamps’ World Cup holders, they might have even advanced in top spot. Now a place in the last 16 requires at the very least a win on Wednesday over Australia, the 38th-ranked nation sitting above them in second, and also a prayer that Tunisia do not simultaneously upset already-qualified France.

“Of course there’s pressure,” he says. “But we are very solid and a very good group. We are never alone – we do things together. We win, we lose, we fight … but we are together. I think the best way is to focus on what we have to do is prepare just like normal. These players are very, very used to big games.”

Hjulmand, in his half-hour media conference on Tuesday, expressed the whole gamut of emotions, all in that dispassionate voice – the sound of stability amid the uncertainty. One minute he is discussing the pressure of an expectant nation barely 18 months after they almost went all the way at Euro 2020, and the next “solving a football-related task” against an Australian side he expects to “attack and run at us”.

“It will be a surprise for me if that doesn’t happen,” he continued. “Like all football games, there will be times where we have to [solve a task], to break down a very strong defensive unit.”

Despite his even temperament Hjulmand is surely not unaffected by the wobble in Qatar, the place of Christian Eriksen’s second coming which quickly morphed into a tit-for-tat over human rights statements and a scoreless draw with unheralded Tunisia.

But he does not bite on a question about the OneLove armbands fiasco he had lamented only a week ago was a distraction. “We’re focused and we are ready,” he simply said. “Right now we are totally focused on this, we don’t have any other thoughts.”

From a personnel perspective, Hjulmand declared no fitness concerns but also revealed nothing in terms of lineup or tactical approach, apart from the fact Jesper Lindstrøm sat next to him.

Instead he spoke about the collective. “The more experience you have of these kinds of events, from maybe feeling the pressure, [the more] you feel pride,” he said. “It is a dream since you were a kid and now you are actually in a position where you can go out and play football for something. It is privilege.”

Denmark face test of nerve as Australia plan for Eriksen’s quality | World Cup 2022

Last week the Denmark head coach, Kasper Hjulmand, announced he had loose plans to duplicate Christian Eriksen. “I would like to clone him,” he said before the side’s group game against France. “I would like to have him in the back of my own penalty area and in front of the other goal.”

The fact that, in the very same press conference, Hjulmand joked that he would also like to borrow Erling Haaland from Norway may reveal something about why they find themselves playing Australia to save their World Cup campaign.

Denmark arrived in Qatar as the darkest of dark horses, with Eriksen back in glittering form and the Nations League win against France in September a clear sign the team had rekindled the panache which won hearts and minds at Euro 2020. Yet here they are, languishing second-last in Group D, having been held by Tunisia and beaten by Kylian Mbappé (and France). Against the latter they attacked brightly enough to suggest they can – should – account for Australia.

Equally, there is also a sense of trepidation among the Danish media and public, about their capacity to right the ship against a much lower-ranked team who played out of their skins against Tunisia. While not the overriding factor, Hjulmand has spoken of his struggle in dealing with the OneLove armband controversy, of which his country has been at the forefront, and Fifa’s rejection of their “human rights for all” training kits.

On the pitch Denmark need goals, pure and simple, and it seems Hjulmand is yet to land on his strongest combination – one that does not require a clone of his standout player but instead brings out the best in the one he has.

Eriksen – “the heart and soul and brains” of the team, according to Kasper Schmeichel on Sunday – cannot be everywhere all at once. To try would be, as one Danish journalist put it on Monday, damaging to the performances of those around him. Another predicted Hjulmand may shift to a back four in a bid to give Eriksen more freedom than what he had against France. If it works, the 30-year-old could well be the rod in Australia’s back on Wednesday.

The Australia manager, Graham Arnold, congratulates his players after the win against Tunisia. Photograph: Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images

Hjulmand says Eriksen is the group’s inspiration, as he was even in his absence at the European Championship. But the coach also points to his breadth of goalscorers; to Jesper Lindstrøm and Andreas Skov Olsen and Kasper Dolberg. “You cannot expect to push a button and expect to score a lot of goals,” Hjulmand after the France defeat. “We have a lot of good strikers and we were very close.”

The challenge the Socceroos will face is twofold. The first is to break down Denmark’s sound defence. Andreas Christensen, the centre-back who scored against France and practically rugby-tackled Mbappé, is quick and brave while Galatasaray’s Victor Nelsson is fast making a name for himself.

The second is to repeat the brilliant defensive display that ensured a clean sheet against heavy Tunisia pressure – and then step it up a notch given the class of this next opponent. There is also perhaps a third: to cast aside for 90 minutes a genuine appreciation for Eriksen’s calibre and for what he has overcome in the 18 months since having a cardiac arrest on the pitch during Denmark’s European Championship group game against Finland.

“He’s such a tremendous player,” the Australia midfielder Keanu Baccus said on Monday. “It was sad, that moment, for everyone involved in football to see that. But it’s great to see him back. He’s obviously at Man United as well and it’s good to see him back playing for his country because he’s a great player.”

Since arriving in Doha, the Socceroos have been vocal about their strength as a collective unit despite their relative lack of experience and well-known faces. Ajdin Hrustic explained it by way of the little-known stick analogy.

“He’s good,” the attacker said of Eriksen. “But one manager at Schalke [youth] once put out 11 sticks. He tied ’em off then put one stick on the right, and he said: ‘Boys, do you realise something?’ No one knew what he was talking about and one of the boys said: ‘There’s 12 sticks out there.’ And he goes: ‘No, there’s 11 sticks which stick as a team. One stick, which is an individual. Eleven sticks will always be stronger than one.’”

Helping the case of those 11 metaphorical sticks is Andrew Clark, Australia’s head of sports science who was recently poached by FC Copenhagen and “loaned back” to the national team for the duration of the World Cup. “Andrew Clark is obviously head of sports science and I actually didn’t think the Danish club would release him for that reason,” the Australia head coach, Graham Arnold, said. “He has a lot of detail on the Danish players.”

Hjulmand was vigilant with his words after the France defeat, careful not to convey overconfidence. “I think we’ve all seen how many people take World Cup results for granted, but a World Cup is something else,” he said.

“It’s all extremely close. There’s nothing you can take for granted. Australia fight with might, driven on by fantastic team spirit. It will be a hard match. It will be a close match.”

How Denmark has helped shape the Socceroos’ World Cup campaign | World Cup 2022

In 2011, Peter Christiansen opened his inbox to find he had been sent an aeroplane ticket to Australia. The ticket would not only fly him from Denmark to the other side of the world but also signal a new chapter in his career, forge a new development pathway for Australian football and, eventually, see Socceroos captain Mat Ryan make his Champions League debut.

“My eyes were opened during that two-week trip. I went everywhere,” Christiansen tells Guardian Australia before this week’s make-or-break World Cup clash between the Socceroos and Denmark. “Central Coast, Brisbane, Melbourne; I met Ange [Postecoglou], Peter Cklamovski [Postecoglou’s long-time assistant and now head coach at Montedio Yamagata].

“So I met people there; of course, Arnie [Socceroos coach Graham Arnold]) and Clarky [Socceroos fitness coach Andrew Clark], and had the chance to go and watch a lot of training… trying to understand how people were from that part of the world, and just listening, learning, and it was a really good feeling going back.”

Christiansen, who won three Danish Superliga titles as a player with FC Copenhagen, has become one of the most influential individuals in Danish football over the past decade, and is simply known as “PC”. Now back at FC Copenhagen as sporting director, Christiansen’s rise has also seen Denmark become a popular destination for Australian footballers.

When Christiansen made his first trip Down Under, just two Australians were playing in the Danish Superliga. Since then, Superliga clubs have completed 19 transfers involving Australians. Christiansen has been central to seven of those deals, while he also added Clark – the Socceroos’ fitness guru – to FC Copenhagen’s staff earlier this year.

“I think the talent [in Australia], in general, is underestimated, with us Europeans looking at it. I think there’s a lot of talent down there,” Christiansen says.

FC Copenhagen director of sports Peter Christiansen. Photograph: Gonzales Photo/Alamy

Back in 2011, Christiansen was head scout at Randers FC, which was looking to cement itself in the Superliga. Access to “niche markets” such as Australia, in Christiansen’s words, gave him “an edge” over bigger clubs.

Most significantly, he spent time at Central Coast Mariners in 2011 where Arnold had assembled an impressive array of young talent, including Ryan, Mustafa Amini and Bernie Ibini. While interested, Christiansen was unable to make any immediate signings, but would eventually secure Amini in 2015.

“So that basically kicked it off,” says Christiansen, who has signed Australians at all three clubs he has worked at – Randers, AGF and FC Copenhagen. “I’ve not had a bad [experience] with regards to a player or staff member from Australia.”

The wait to sign Ryan would be much longer, but Christiansen finally landed the Socceroos goalkeeper on a two-year deal in August this year. the transfer saw Ryan play in the Champions League group stage for the first time in his career.

“He played a massive part in us [FC Copenhagen] qualifying for the Champions League,” Christiansen says. “The two playoff games we had against Trabzonspor, he was absolutely outstanding, coming up big in a couple of occasions in both games. So he’s definitely been a top performer for us.”

For Christiansen, the lure of Australia was access to an undervalued market of young talent, comprising “very professional players, hard-working, good talent, good mindset, intelligent”.

Meanwhile, Australian footballers have benefitted from a new pathway to Europe. Following the Socceroos’ so-called “golden generation” of Kewell, Viduka et al, few Australians have had opportunities to play in Europe’s top leagues. Denmark has provided a culture strikingly similar to home, clubs where English is the primary working language, and a shop window for bigger leagues.

Awer Mabil, who made his European breakthrough at FC Midtjylland. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

The Danish pathway has broadened over the years with other clubs – in particular, FC Midtjylland – providing some competition for Christiansen. Last season, Socceroos fullback Joel King joined Odense Boldklub from Sydney FC. Awer Mabil, who has twice come off the bench so far this World Cup, is the poster boy of the Australia-Denmark talent trail. Mabil spent seven years in Midtjylland’s setup, including three stints on loan, winning the Danish Cup and the Superliga, and playing in the Champions League and Europa League. He now plays for Cadiz in La Liga.

As the Socceroos prepare to face Denmark at Al Janoub Stadium on Wednesday (Thursday morning AEDT), Christiansen is convinced that the performances of Mabil, King and others with a Danish connection at this World Cup will be critical to maintaining current pathways and blazing new trails to Europe.

“I think the Aussie national team has a big responsibility to do well because it’s also the future of a lot of young players that are at stake,” he says. “If the Socceroos do well at the World Cup, I think that Australian football will gain more recognition in Europe.”

Regardless, Christiansen plans to keep monitoring the Australian market, which he otherwise might never have discovered if not for that unexpected aeroplane ticket sent by an insistent football agent by the name of Buddy Farah, who has also represented many of the players Christiansen has signed from Australia.

“I was always trying to find a reason not to go because of my calendar. I was that busy, so, in the end, he just sent me a ticket,” Christiansen says. “And then I thought, ‘OK, now I’m going’.”

ITV pundit Nadia Nadim exits studio mid-match after learning of mother’s death | World Cup 2022

ITV World Cup pundit Nadia Nadim has revealed she had to leave the studio while on air after learning that her mother had died.

The Denmark international footballer wrote on Instagram that her mother, Hadima Nadim, 57, had been killed in a collision with a truck on her way home from the gym on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old was part of ITV’s coverage of Denmark’s 0-0 draw with Tunisia in Qatar but had to leave the studio before the final whistle.

Nadim, her four sisters and their mother fled Afghanistan when she was 11, having been in hiding for three years after her father Rabani, an army general, was executed by the Taliban in 2000.

The former Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain forward wrote: “Tuesday morning my Mother was killed by a truck. She was on her way back from the gym.

“Words cannot describe what I’m feeling. I have lost the most important person in my life and it happened so sudden and unexpected.

“She was only 57. She was a warrior who had fought for every inch of her life.

“She didn’t give me life once but twice, and everything I/we are is because of her.

“I have lost my home and I know nothing’s gonna ever feel the same. Life is unfair and I don’t understand why her and why this way. I love you and I will see you again.”

Nadim, who plays for National Women’s Soccer League club Racing Louisville FC in the US, added: “Her funeral is going to be soon … please come and show her the love, respect and prayers she deserves.”

After Nadim’s father’s death, Nadim’s mother sold all of their possessions to take a minivan to Karachi, southern Pakistan, where they waited two months for fake passports before taking a flight to Italy.

The family spent days hiding in a basement in Milan, then 50 hours in the back of a truck to reach what they were told was London, but turned out to be a refugee camp in rural Denmark, where Nadim discovered her love for playing football.

Germany cover mouths and wear rainbows on kit in World Cup protest | Germany

Germany’s players placed hands over their mouths and wore rainbow stripes on their warm-up tops and boots in a powerful statement of defiance against Fifa before their Group E match against Japan.

Their message was reinforced by the German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, who also wore a OneLove armband, which promotes tolerance, diversity and LGBTQ+ rights, as she sat next to Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino.

Germany are one of seven nations, including England and Wales, who were banned by Fifa from wearing the armband on Sunday – and warned they would face sporting sanctions if they defied football’s governing body.

In a powerful statement published shortly after the game started, the German Football Association warned Fifa: “Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position.”

German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, with the OneLove armband beside Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino. Photograph: Friedemann Vogel/EPA

It added: “We wanted to use our captain’s armband to take a stand for values that we hold in the Germany national team: diversity and mutual respect. Together with other nations, we wanted our voice to be heard.

“It wasn’t about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us.”

Six of Germany’s starting XI, including Ilkay Gündogan and Manuel Neuer, had rainbow colours on their boots.

The fear of sporting sanctions – including captains receiving a yellow card at kickoff – had led the seven nations to backtrack from their promise to wear the OneLove in their World Cup matches.

Rainbow colours on the boots of several Germany players before their game against Japan. Photograph: Ricardo Mazalán/AP

However Danish football federation chief executive, Jakob Jensen, confirmed that those nations were now exploring legal options to overturn Fifa’s decision – although he ruled out going to the court of arbitration for sport at this stage.

“Now we’re looking into what are the legal options, we are co-ordinating our discussions on that as well, but at this point it is not possible to go to Cas,” he said. “You can’t go through Cas now and I think this is some rumour running around the press.

He added: “The Germans are looking into the legal possibilities. It’s very different than going through Cas. If you want to go through Cas you need to complain within the Fifa system first, you need to go to the appeals body, then you can go through Cas

“About the One Love armband, together with the German FA and other countries, the German team wanted to do this and to take a stand.

“But now Fifa have threatened us basically with sanctions. The associations that played on Monday [England and Wales], it was very short notice. If you want to run a campaign like this together, you should stick to your decisions.”

On Wednesday Fifa said it has opened disciplinary proceedings against Ecuador over homophobic chanting by their fans in their World Cup opener against Qatar.

Denmark denied late VAR penalty as Tunisia hold on for draw in stalemate | World Cup 2022

This was a reminder that Denmark must walk steadily before they attempt to run. They have been tipped as a contender to go all the way and their spectacular form of the past 18 months makes it easy to see why. Here, though, they were often second best to an impressive Tunisia, whose point was richly merited despite a glaring second-half miss from the substitute Andreas Cornelius.

If the match had been billed as Christian Eriksen’s once unthinkable return to the World Cup stage, it became more memorable for an atmosphere that gave the lie to any notion this tournament will be bereft of fanatical football crowds. Had Tunisia scored the winner that would not have flattered them, the reaction might have been audible 2,500 miles away in north Africa. In the event they have already taken their own interest in this tournament to the final Group D matchday and complicated Denmark’s hopes of topping the pile.

This certainly felt a million miles away from the uneasy, eerie sterility of Sunday’s opening game. It had the host nation feeling that occasion lacked, at least 30,000 Tunisians packing the stands and making an almighty din. The noise barely let up and, in the early exchanges, clearly gave their side a few extra percent. When Aissa Laidouni thundered into a tackle with under two minutes on the clock his public roared; in response, the midfielder beat his chest and geed them up further with windmilling arms. Crowd and team felt like one entity, spurring each other on to a tide of early pressure.

For the Danes, it must have felt like facing an extra man. The centre-forward Issam Jebali had a shot blocked and then, in the 11th minute, there was a more serious scare when Mohamed Drager’s 20-yard drive snicked off Andreas Christensen and spun a foot wide. Kasper Schmeichel was rooted; the exhalation of disappointment behind him was louder than some goal celebrations.

Denmark could not establish any rhythm. They needed to slow the game down and managed to do so for a spell, the hitherto bypassed Eriksen seeing some possession and causing brief alarm with a teasing free-kick from the right.

The intensity, though, still stemmed from Tunisia. They had found an effective balance between defence and attack, picking their moments to press, and briefly thought it had borne fruit when Jebali ran through before beating Schmeichel. He had strayed offside but Drager had no such issues when, after a magical run in midfield from Youssef Msakni, a shooting chance beckoned. A recovery tackle from Pierre-Emile Højbjerg saved Denmark but they were living on their nerves.

Laidouni blazed wide after a half-cleared corner and, although space occasionally presented itself down the flanks, Denmark offered little before half time beyond a centre from Andreas Skov Olsen that just evaded Højbjerg. The biggest let-off of all came in the 42nd minute when Jebali, anticipating a mishit shot from Msakni, attempted to dink over Schmeichel but was foiled by a brilliant tip wide.

Had he scored, VAR might have determined his lower arm was offside although there is no guarantee. An enforced change saw Thomas Delaney, Denmark’s powerhouse midfielder, replaced by Mikkel Damsgaard after the effects of a fall. Eriksen moved into a deeper role and the ambition was that, after the interval, he might finally secure them a foothold.

Tunisia’s goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen makes a save against Denmark. Photograph: Manu Fernández/AP

Some hope. Within six minutes Jebali, who plays his club football in Denmark with Odense, escaped again but fluffed his intended pass to the Brondby forward Anis Ben Slimane and allowed Christensen to intercept. In the ensuing spell, shots were peppered towards Schmeichel’s goal; none were of consequence, but reinforced the impression Tunisia were on top.

Skov had an effort disallowed for offside and Kasper Dolberg flicked a Damsgaard delivery across goal as Denmark, who had to respond, sparked into life. Kasper Hjulmand made three changes and should have been rewarded when one of the new arrivals, Cornelius, fluffed his lines. Eriksen had just seen a shot tipped wide by Aymen Dahmen when, from the resulting corner, Christensen headed across goal. Had Cornelius stretched out a foot, he would surely have converted from two yards. Instead he stooped into an awkward header, made only a grazing contact and somehow found the far upright.

Tunisia screamed for a handball by Joachim Andersen, deemed accidental, at the other end and this was a pulsating, end-to-end affair now. But nobody could fashion another close call until, at the death, Dahmen clawed away Jesper Lindstrøm’s outrageous attempt. Tunisia survived a late VAR review for handball and their fans could sing into the night.

Christian Eriksen’s miraculous return leading Denmark’s challenge to elite | World Cup 2022

Christian Eriksen has been back threading passes through Premier League defences for the best part of a year but there was still something sublime in the fact he was able to sit here, at a modest sports facility on the hazy outskirts of Doha, previewing a World Cup. The thought he might do so had, in the bluntest terms, not crossed anyone’s mind in the aftermath of his cardiac arrest last June but there is a tantalising sense the story may only be part way through.

Could Eriksen and Denmark go all the way? That is their intention in Qatar and it would represent a footballing, not to mention personal, comeback for the ages. It would also back up the progress of a team that hovers just below the established favourites but has shown enough, before and since the return of its talisman, to suggest the final step may be possible.

“It has always been strong but the belief, in the squad and from the fans, was bigger when I came back,” Eriksen said when asked whether, on resuming international duty in March, he had stepped into a different Denmark team. The blend of emotion, pride, togetherness and sheer skill that brought them to the Euro 2020 semi-finals after that fateful afternoon at Parken has bred an irresistible juggernaut: they qualified for this winter’s competition with ease and, earlier this year, beat France both home and away in the Nations League.

It is the French with whom they will presumably grapple for top spot in Group D unless Australia or Tunisia, their opponents at Education City Stadium on Tuesday, spring a surprise. “France in a tournament is a different team compared to the rest of the year,” said Eriksen, using characteristic modesty but applying fair logic too. Competing with the elite over four weeks may take something different. “We’re dreaming of something big,” he said. “But in the end we have to get there.”

The challenge facing Kasper Hjulmand, Denmark’s urbane manager, is to plot the path. The ultimate leap is to be a side that wins semi-finals and finals. His players could not have been accused of robbery if they had clung on to beat England at Wembley last summer but he has always said the better team won.

“The quality of the team is very, very good but I don’t think we’re up there with the very best,” Hjulmand said. “We’ve been discussing it a lot with the players: how can we still try to get there? We are trying to [do it] and climb the last percentages against the best teams.”

Eriksen’s addition to the unit that, without his peerless ingenuity, captured so many imaginations should help tilt the numbers favourably. The team looks nicely balanced, with Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Thomas Delaney to either side of him in midfield while Simon Kjær, feted for his reaction to Eriksen’s collapse, has returned from long-term injury to anchor the defence. Atalanta’s Joakim Mæhle will bomb on from left-back while Mikkel Damsgaard and Kasper Dolberg remain bright sparks in attack.

Denmark are riding a wave and their longevity has been a pleasant surprise to Hjulmand. “We didn’t know if it was ‘Euro football fever’ in Denmark or just football fever,” he said. “And it was football fever. It’s crazy in Denmark at the moment. I think we’re in a good position. You cannot just go by emotions, to play well we need quality on the pitch, but I think the football quality is there and we’re ready.”

When France visited Parken two months ago, demand for tickets reached 120,000. That is more than four times Parken’s capacity but the atmosphere Denmark face in their opener may hinder rather than help. Tunisian supporters have travelled in numbers to Qatar and up to 30,000 could be in the stands: a reliably awkward, often tricky opponent will feel at home and test the Danes’ ability to set a resounding tone.

Christian Eriksen

When a count was made in late September, only 2,000 tickets had been sold to Danish supporters across all three group stage games; this may be the most popular team since the Euro 92 winners but the cloud surrounding Qatar has permeated both fanbase and squad.

Denmark have not hidden their dismay about the governing body’s refusal to allow the slogan “Human rights for all” on their training shirts and have pointedly been training in all-black jerseys. They will join other countries in wearing the OneLove rainbow armband, starting on Tuesday, whether it is approved or not.

There is the impression Fifa has done little to earn trust and the Danish FA’s sporting director, Peter Møller, bore that out on Saturday after hearing Gianni Infantino’s extraordinary soliloquy that morning. “My personal opinion is he says some appalling things,” Møller said, bristling against the president’s criticism of Europe and pointing out Denmark have worked behind the scenes to help effect change in Qatar. “I don’t understand anything he’s saying. It shows me we are doing the right thing when, the day before the World Cup, he spends almost all his time speaking about all the things we have helped push forward.”

Still, a seismic victory in Fifa’s showpiece is the prize on offer. “You need to hit the right moment in games and get a bit of luck, but our goal is to win the tournament,” said the right-back Jens Stryger Larsen. Winning the group could lead to a quarter-final rematch with England; second place would probably bring a fiendish early test against Argentina.

“I’m happy to be back, it’s special to be at a World Cup,” Eriksen said. That will describe the feelings sparked watching him pull Denmark’s strings once again, too.

Category: Denmark

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