Finland has claimed an historic victory in its first match at a major tournament, beating Denmark 1-0 in a game completely overshadowed by Christian Eriksen’s collapse.
Joel Pohjanpalo scored the only goal of the game at Copenhagen’s Parken stadium on the hour mark of the contest.
That came after the game had been suspended for about 90 minutes after Eriksen needed urgent medical treatment near the end of the first half.
The Danish football association said Eriksen was awake and stable in hospital following the incident.
As a result, Pohjanpalo’s celebration was understandably muted, although the Finnish fans did not hold back in the stands as they celebrated an unlikely goal that came completely against the run of play.
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Denmark dominated most of the game up until Eriksen’s collapse, forcing three decent saves from Finnish keeper Lukas Hradecky in the opening 20 minutes.
The Danes continued to push in the second half, and were handed a penalty when Yussuf Poulsen went down under a challenge from Paulus Arajuuri.
However, Hradecky dived to his left to stop a tame effort from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, sparking delirious celebrations in the stands.
Finnish fans may not have been able to control their excitement at winning their first tournament match in the nation’s 113-year footballing history, but they did earlier pay moving tribute to Eriksen.
As the crowd waited to hear news on the Danish star, Finnish fans chanted “Christian!” and Danish supporters responded with “Eriksen” in an emotional tribute.
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Wales salvage draw with Switzerland
AP: Darko Vojinovic
)Earlier, a Kieffer Moore header has helped Wales to a 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their Euro 2020 clash in Baku.
The goal came off a cross from Joe Morrell in the 74th minute, about 25 minutes after Breel Embolo had put the Swiss in the lead with his own header.
Switzerland dominated possession but wasted numerous chances before Embolo scored the opening goal in the 49th minute.
First he won a corner when his shot was pushed wide after a solo run, then rose above his marker to head in a cross from Xherdan Shaqiri.
“At the end we were not strong enough to get the three points. Yes, we deserved more,” Embolo said.
“At the end, we lose two points.”
The Swiss pushed for a winning goal after Moore’s header and thought they had one when Mario Gavranovic put the ball in the net, but it was ruled offside on video review.
Wales goalkeeper Danny Ward made a fine save to tip another Embolo header over the bar shortly after.
Italy leads Group A with three points after its opening game, 3-0 win over Turkey.
Wales and Switzerland have one point each and will both still face Turkey in Baku, where the Turks are likely to have a large number of traveling fans and strong local support.
“We showed a lot of fight, determination,” Wales captain Gareth Bale said.
“We have to use this a springboard now to the next game.”
AP/ABC
