Definitely, the most amazing team I have ever seen in the history of the European Football Championships is the Danish national team at the CHE-92.
To start, it is probably worth it with the fact that they came to the first place purely by chance.
Yugoslavia, which won the selection, disintegrated, and three days before the start of UEFA, finally realized that a team like the national team of Yugoslavia simply no longer exists.
A wise decision was made - to close the hole formed by someone, and the role of "although who" was best suited to the team, which took the second place, after the south, in that selection group - the Danish.
The summer. The vacation. Danish footballers traveled to the beaches.
The captain of the national team, Olsen, who, it seems, at the time was slightly over 40, recalled later that he decided for himself that he would go to Sweden for the championship ("I can't tolerate the heat, I hate the beaches, a little running in the cold seemed to me a good idea"). He called the “collectors.” Many vacation plans have not changed.
The only superstar from Denmark, Mikael Laudrup, the ornament of Barcelona, for example, decided to continue rest.
It is characteristic that no one in Denmark has turned his tongue to "run" on him for something, a fool, not a patriot.
I didn’t go, okay. Not one he did not go, since the five players of the base also did not do anything.
Although some of the prominent in Europe guys still decided in the off-season a little "stricken." Like the goalkeeper of M.U. Schmeichel. Or Bavaria midfielder Poulsen, a guy very gambling and factory.
I really don’t know what bets were there on the victory of the Danish at the English bookmakers, but, as I think, they were hardly more likely than, for example, on the victory of the national team of Mongolia...
In fact - the oldest team in the history of the European Championships, acting in the second composition, collected (picked?) From bar to pine on all the beaches of the world.
They came and immediately went to play.
Drived in the first game in a draw with the always overrated favorites - the English, who were very pleased that instead of the most powerful on the continent at the time of the national team of Yugoslavia they got unknown Danes (the English sympathized - loss of points in the match with untrained and unmotivated outsiders).
They were delighted with the weak opponent of the hosts - the Swedes. The Swedes were strong then. “It’s strange that it’s only 0:1,” the press wrote.
They played the delighted French who had already seen themselves in the semi-finals ("It happened, don't pay attention" - as if apologizing, Poulsen explained to journalists).
However, they had to play at least one more game. "I was terribly angry at Schmeichel - I complained to journalists Poulsen - I could have missed more, and the guys would already go to rest, and here again the delay with the vacation."
The Dutch fans were happy because it was obvious that the game with the outsider was a true pass to the final.
But Schmeichel and his comrades again deceived those who went on vacation - the Danes defeated the absolute favourite of the penalty tournament.
The victory was celebrated by the whole of Germany. Because it was clear that in the final they simply have no opponent, and the game itself turns into an empty formality - you just have to go out on the field, and these unconditional Danish old girls swallow themselves.
But the Danish old women for some reason did not get off, quite decently played in this match (winning 2:0) and became the most unexpected champion of Europe in the history of the tournaments.
The coach of the national team of Denmark then said that this victory breaks the entire concept of training teams and the role of the coach. In fact – no tactics (“it just didn’t have time to develop”), physical training (“all lost shape during the holidays, nobody recovered”), playfulness (“when could we play? Many only saw each other on the field, not seeing each other for a few years." He said he apologized to colleagues at the workshop for the fact that now their fees will go down sharply, since it has now been experimentally proven that training is not necessary at all.
Well, the point was put by the same insatiable Poulsen: “What, training? “Let those who can’t play train.”