Germany’s Havertz and Musiala shrug off storm delay to sink furious Denmark
Kai Havertz (centre) is embraced by his Germany teammates after his penalty gave them the lead over Denmark. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images
A loose, hectic, sometimes thrilling match was disrupted first by the elements and then by the deadening technocracy that is smothering elite football. At the end of it all Germany could dream of a new summer fairytale having come through the most unseasonable of hindrances. A storm of dramatic proportions that erupted after the half-hour brought Michael Oliver to stop the game and bring the teams inside for 25 minutes. At one stage it seemed the game was at risk of being curtailed altogether.
After it resumed, Oliver and his VAR team were central to a sequence that devastated Denmark. Joachim Andersen’s goal was chalked off for a wafer-thin offside and he almost immediately conceded a penalty through their interpretation of a ridiculous handball law. Kai Havertz converted and Jamal Musiala turned the screw. Germany, riotous fun but often ragged, face Spain or Georgia next.
This was a portentously close, muggy evening at the outset. Julian Nagelsmann had not allowed noise around Germany’s centre-forward position to cloud his thinking: he knew well in advance that, for all the rumbustious claims of Niklas Füllkrug, there would be no shifting Havertz from the lineup. It was also a straightforward call to replace the suspended Jonathan Tah with Nico Schlotterbeck. More surprising were the decisions to recall Leroy Sané and, at left-back, David Raum. Those were, the coach emphasises, not to be seen as slights on the outgoing Florian Wirtz and Maximilian Mittelstädt.
Within three minutes of kick-off Sané had skittered to the right byline and Raum had won a corner from the left. Toni Kroos clipped the set-piece across and there was little obviously wrong when a hurtling Schlotterbeck beat Schmeichel to the ball, knee-sliding away in jubilation. It took several seconds for him to realise Oliver had killed the buzz: replays suggested Joshua Kimmich had blocked Andreas Skov Olsen near the penalty spot, although that action’s likely effect on the finish seemed minimal.
Germany were hardly deterred. This was a battering in the early stages and, by the 11th minute, Schmeichel had completed four saves. An acrobatic stop from Kimmich’s piledriver was the pick; he also had to divert another Schlotterbeck header wide, tip Havertz’s angled volley around the post and hold on after Robert Andrich had been the latest home player to beat his opponent in the air.
Could Denmark offer anything in response to this whirlwind of speed, rat-a-tat passing and seemingly telepathic rotation? They had been excoriated back home for a largely stultifying group stage performance but at least Kasper Hjulmand could select his creative force in Christian Eriksen, who had been a slight doubt with stomach problems.
Having stayed in the game they began to participate in it, Eriksen brilliantly taking down a long pass from Anderson but seeing a sliding Antonio Rüdiger perform similar heroics in blocking his shot. Then Eriksen fed a marauding Joachim Mæhle, who blazed high from a good position, and Germany’s early fire had been doused.
By the half-hour Denmark were even dominating, Mæhle clumsily bundled over by Andrich on the edge of the box and Eriksen shooting wastefully into the wall. Then came a storm several removes from that which had engulfed them previously. The heavens opened, as they had been threatening to; now forked lightning and loud, ominous claps of thunder shuddered the stands. With 35 minutes played Oliver led the players off, first to the side of the pitch and then down the tunnel as conditions continued to deteriorate. The playing area was patently unsafe.
Twenty-five minutes later everyone was back and the match continued its open, knife-edge feel. Schmeichel saved brilliantly again from Havertz and then Rasmus Højlund, who had just hit the side netting, was denied by Manuel Neuer after Thomas Delaney had played him in.
Proceedings had, in every sense, been anything but dry. Perhaps the reset might do Germany, imprecise and nervy since that initial barrage, some good. They could eventually make a case for that after a tumultuous five minutes that played havoc with Andersen’s emotions, never mind those of six million Danes. The Crystal Palace defender seemed to have given Denmark the lead they had threatened, lashing in after a scramble. But Delaney, who had swung and missed before Andersen converted, was protractedly ruled offside by a toenail and their misfortune had only begun.
Straight down the other end, Raum broke away and saw his cross glance off Andersen’s hand. Handball controversies are catnip to Premier League officials and here was a fresh one to rake over. Oliver pulled play back and, after consulting with Stuart Attwell, awarded a spot kick that Havertz converted clinically. Andersen was at close quarters and his arm, while not beside his body, was hardly outstretched. The decision was probably correct by the strictest interpretation of the law, but the law is anti-football and ruins games that do not deserve it.
This one should have been settled quickly by Havertz and Sané, who both missed sitters. Højlund, making Neuer block, issued a reminder that a now becalmed Denmark might re-enter the conversation. Then Musiala raced on to a laser-like pass from Schlotterbeck and finished where his teammates could not.