Euro 2024 Day 3: Eriksen, Weghorst, and Three Meek Lions

Unyielding Netherlands, frugal England, and a draw with contrasting emotions for Denmark and Slovenia.

The third day of the European Football Championship presented us with three more thrilling matches. Today, we saw the highly favored England team in action for the first time, facing Serbia. Also in this group was the duel between Denmark and Slovenia, starting in Hamburg with the match between Poland and the Netherlands.

A day when two heroes took the stage – Wout Weghorst and Christian Eriksen, and when everyone was ready for the show of the “Three Lions,” it never came to be.

Let’s follow the day chronologically because Euro 2024 was also marked by unfortunate events outside the football fields.

While the world marvelled at the over 50,000 Dutch fans who flooded the streets of Hamburg, authorities reported that police had shot a man with an axe. Later, it became clear that the man’s aggression was directed towards law enforcement, but it remains unclear at this stage whether he was part of the Euro 2024 fans.

As for the match, the Netherlands made a complete comeback and defeated Poland 2-1, with Wout Weghorst becoming the hero for the “tulips” ten minutes before the end. 

Just 136 seconds after coming on, the Dutch striker scored the winning goal with his first touch. His remarkable efficiency is evidenced by the fact that each of his last three shots at a major football tournament has turned into a goal.

In the first half, the Poles had taken the lead through Adam Buksa in the 16th minute, and Liverpool striker Cody Gakpo equalized in the 29th.

The success is deserved for Ronald Koeman’s team because they dominated 80% of the time but made numerous misses. 

The Poles were more active only during one period at the beginning of the second half.

Polish captain Robert Lewandowski missed the match as he was not 100% ready. However, he did appear in the warm-up, causing a shock, but did not enter the game.

Later in Stuttgart, it was time for the match between Slovenia and Denmark, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Denmark and Slovenia drew in the European Championship’s Group C match. At the Stuttgart stadium, the two teams played to a 1-1 draw. This was Slovenia’s first match at a European Championship in 24 years.

The two teams were well acquainted, having been in the same group in the qualifiers for this championship. The “Red Dynamite” fared better in those clashes, winning at home and drawing in Ljubljana. Thus, the former Yugoslav Republic has no victory in seven matches against the Scandinavians.

The big hero in this match was Christian Eriksen, who, exactly 1100 days after facing death in the Danes’ opening match in Euro 2020, scored on the European stage. 

Christian Eriksen opened the scoring for the Danes in the 17th minute.

The Danes dominated Slovenia, but despite this, they couldn’t score a second goal. After the break, the Slovenians played bravely and had more chances. Benjamin Sesko hit the post and missed the target from a tight angle once.

The only accurate shot was by Erik Janža in the 77th minute. His shot deflected off a red defender and went into the net – 1-1.

The Slovenian national team will still have to wait for their first victory at a major football tournament. In their three participations so far, they have four draws and five defeats. 

Despite this, Slovenian fans took the draw as a victory for their favorites and filled the stadium with joyful songs after the end of the match. In contrast, the Danish fans quickly left, angry at losing points in a match they considered a sure victory.

While Denmark and Slovenia were competing in Stuttgart, in Gelsenkirchen, Serbs and English fans fought in the streets, justifying fears that this would be the highest-risk match in the group stage.

Hours later, however, there was no spectacle on the pitch as England recently recorded one of their most economical and lifeless victories, beating Serbia 1-0.

Jude Bellingham opened with a header at the very beginning, but overall, that was the extent of the interesting moments in this match, in which the only positive for the English could be the three points.

Bellingham set a historic record in the match against Serbia at the European Championship. 

He became the first European player in three major tournaments before turning 21.

Bellingham is 20 years and 353 days old, and Euro 2024 is his third championship with the England team. He previously played at Euro 2020 and the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

The English played better before the break, but they left the initiative to Serbia in the second half, allowing the opponent to create opportunities. However, in most cases, the final pass from the Serbian players proved inaccurate.

Poland – Netherlands 1:2
Adam Buksa (16′) ; Cody Gakpo (29′), Wout Weghorst (83′)

Slovenia – Denmark 1:1
Erik Janza (77′), Christian Eriksen (17′)

Serbia – England 0:1
Jude Bellingham (13′)

Group C                                 Group D
1.England 3 pts               1.Netherlands 3 pts
2.Denmark 1 pt               2.France 0 pts (haven’t played yet)
3.Slovenia 1 pt                3.Austria 0 pts (haven’t played yet)
4.Serbia 0 pts                4.Poland 0 pts