Debutants Finland stun Denmark

Copenhagen: Joel Pohjanpalo scored and Lukas Hradecky saved a penalty to give Finland a 1-0 victory over Denmark on Saturday in a European Championship game overshadowed by Christian Eriksen’s collapse on the field. The game was suspended for about 90 minutes after Eriksen needed urgent medical treatment before being taken to a hospital. When play resumed, Pohjanpalo put Finland ahead against the run of play in the 60th minute when he rose above Joakim Maehle to head home a cross from Jere Uronen. It was Finland’s only effort on goal in the entire game as Denmark dominated throughout and finished with 23 total shots, although only six were on target. The Danes’ best chance came when they were handed a penalty after Yussuf Poulsen went down under a challenge from Paulus Arajuuri. But Hradecky dived to his left to stop a tame effort from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the 74th.

Finland were making their debut at a major tournament but what should have been the biggest win in the country’s soccer history was completely overshadowed by Eriksen’s medical emergency. “It’s been definitely one of the most difficult games of my career,” Finland forward Teemu Pukki said. “We decided to do what the Danish team decided to do. … It wasn’t easy to come back to the pitch. But once we heard everything seemed to be fine we started concentrating again on the game. And in the end we are proud of the victory. But the atmosphere after the game is definitely not as glorious as usual.” ap/pti