Posted by A little over two years ago, Denmark visited Ireland’s Aviva Stadium in the second leg of a playoff for a spot in Russia 2018. After a 0-0 draw in Copenhagen, the Irish took a narrow lead on aggregate through an early Shane Duffy strike. Although the Danes equalized through a scrappy Andreas Christensen effort in the 29th minute, the tie was still on a knife-edge heading towards halftime.
However, attacking midfielder Christian Eriksen popped up three minutes after Christensen’s strike with a magnificent curling effort for the crucial second goal. From there, Eriksen and the Danes romped to a 5-1 victory, with the Tottenham schemer helping himself to a hat-trick. In the afterglow of Denmark’s World Cup qualification, Eriksen’s ascendance to world-class superstar status was confirmed. By the end of 2018, Eriksen was selected in the PFA Premier League team of the year for 2017-18 and voted Danish Player of the year after more standout performances at Russia 2018.
Yet, the last few months have seen Eriksen’s stock take a dramatic hit. After declaring his desire to leave Tottenham during the summer transfer window, Eriksen was linked to a host of top-level European clubs, including Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. But, a move never materialized, with Eriksen now looking certain to leave North London on a free transfer this summer when his contract expires.
Amidst the uncertainty surrounding his future at club level, Eriksen’s form has dipped. He has registered 14 appearances in all competitions this season for Spurs, contributing just two goals and one assist. This is an extremely poor return for a player who chipped-in with 10 goals and 17 assists across all competitions in 2018-19. Furthermore, Eriksen has played only 64% of the club’s Premier League minutes this season, a 15% drop on the percentage of Premier League minutes he enjoyed in 2018-19.
As Denmark traveled to Dublin on Monday for yet another crucial qualifier against the Irish, the stage was set for Eriksen to get back to his spellbinding best. However, Eriksen struggled to influence the match from his preferred number 10 role. With the Danes needing just a draw to qualify while the Irish needed to win, the Scandinavians were happy to soak up pressure for much of the match. Eriksen was repeatedly passed over in the buildup in favor of long angled balls forward from center-back Simon Kjaer.
In the few times he did get on the ball, Eriksen failed to cause panic in the home backline. An inventive swiveled through-ball towards forward Andreas Cornelius was easily intercepted. A cute flick in midfield was cut out. When he finally got in behind the Irish defense in the second half, he couldn’t beat the retreating Enda Stevens for pace, and was forced to play a harmless cross-field ball.
The eventual 1-1 draw booked Denmark’s place at EURO 2020. Furthermore, the Danes have only lost once in their last 35 matches, with their solid defense (6 goals conceded in 10 EURO 2020 qualifying matches) providing a platform for the rest of the team. But despite the stout Danish defense, there will be huge concern among supporters of The Red and White at Eriksen’s form.
Besides being Denmark’s only true world-class caliber talent, Eriksen is a crucial source of goals. The former Ajax attacking midfielder has 31 goals in 95 games for his country. The other members of the Danish front four against Ireland (Yussuf Poulsen, Andreas Cornelius and Martin Braithwaite) have only 18 international goals between them. With Eriksen on top form, the Danes are capable of troubling the world’s best sides, as they demonstrated when drawing with France and Croatia during Russia 2018. Without an in-form Eriksen, however, Denmark are a workmanlike side unable to seriously aspire to success in the knockout stages at EURO 2020. Danish fans will be praying that the surprising firing of Mauricio Pochettino as Tottenham head coach will lead to a revival in Eriksen’s club form, and that his international form will follow suit.
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