Group A. France and Denmark opened the finals. France was the favourite, but that was only a thin surface. Historically, Denmark was a weak outsider. They reached the finals after eliminating England, but the initial surprise may have been just that – during preparation the Danes mostly lost, including 0-6 to Holland. Piontek was calm – most of his team played abroad and their clubs did not let them play for the national team. Much was expected of France, but was the team up to expectation was another matter – as every host, the general doubts were based on the fact that the team did not play a single official match since the 1982 World Cup. There was also psychological problem – St Etienne was found guilty of paying under the table and 9 former and current players, including Platini, were investigated. Hidalgo was not happy and defended the players, but to keep them focused on the finals was a real problem.
The match itself presented different problems – Hidalgo started with 4-4-2, his team keen on attacking. Piontek countered with 2 defensive lines, personal marking of Platini, and single striker. On paper, it looked like extremely defensive approach, even going beyond the defensive schemes of the 1960s, but it was nothing like that on the pitch. The Danes were quick, covered the whole field, and tried to counter-attack all the time. They were physical and rough, which was not at all to the liking of the elegant French and sparks flied. More than sparks – Platini and company felt provoked and retaliated. And, as often is the case when technical players decide to fight back, the retaliation was more than clumsy. After a clash with Le Roux, Allan Simonsen finished his Euro – his leg was broken. At the end of the game Manuel Amoros was redcarded for striking Jesper Olsen in the face after a brutal tackle. Platini was seemingly nervous with his personal marker Berggreen, but once the Dane was a bit late and Platini managed to strike and score the only goal. France won 1-0. After the match both coaches were a bit unhappy – Hidalgo pointed out that the win was costly: the team lost 2 players, Amoros and Le Roux, injured in the clash with Simonsen. Piontek thought the result was unfair, the match was really a draw. Both coaches pointed a finger at UEFA – Hidalgo because of the chosen West German referee; Piontek because Denmark was not permitted to replace Simonsen with another player, but Belgium was permitted to replace a player after the deadline. As a whole, the championship started well – the opening match was interesting.
Belgium – Yugoslavia. The Belgian bribing scandal is already mentioned and that was the biggest blow on the national team – in March 16 players were find guilty and suspended, 6 of them national team regulars. And that was not all – Servette (Geneva) had to play at the Swiss Cup final and for that refused to release Renquin. This decision came after the deadline for submitting the official team lists, but UEFA permitted Belgium to replace Renquin with another player – the decision, which later irritated Piontek. Replacing 7 regulars in the last minute was effectively starting a different team from scratch, so there was general doubt about the possible strength of Belgium. Enzo Schifo was urgently made Belgian citizen and included in the squad, but that was not yet big news – he was 18-years old talent, nothing more than that yet. Yugoslavia was determined to restore its reputation, severely tainted at the 1982 World Cup, but big words was nothing new. 40 players were tried in official games and it was not enough – in the final squad there were still 2 practically debutantes. Optimism ruled to the point of misleading foreign observers – Yugoslavia was taken perhaps more seriously than it should have been. Inconsistency was not forgotten, however.
As expected, Yugoslavia pushed forward at first. For 30 minutes blue shirts dominated the match. But they missed 3 great opportunities, Pfaff was great between the goalposts, the Belgian defense did not panic, and… what happened many times before happened again: the Yugoslavs were discouraged and gradually lost the initiative. Scifo shined and at the end it was 2-0 Belgium – both goals were scored in the first half. Once again Yugoslavia appeared to be a paper tiger and the Red Devils proved capable of overcoming any problems. Scifo was clearly the discovery of the championship already – after the match Enzo Bearzot blamed Italian journalists for not telling him that such talent existed. Now it was lost to Italy, too bad.
France-Belgium. All interest was focused on France before the match – there were worries that the French may underestimate the weakened Belgium and the consequences may be dire. Hidalgo had problems with his defense – Le Roux was injured and unable to play and Amoros got 3-game suspension. At the end, Hidalgo decided to use only 3 defenders and enlarge the midfield to 5 men – it was rather easy decision: Belgium used only 2 strikers and France had too many great midfielders anyway. The immediate defensive problem did not hide the permanent French problem, however – ineffective strikers. Bravo played against Denmark, did little, and was replaced with Six for the match with Belgium.
After the game, emotional Hidalgo said that this was the best match France played during his spell. The French dominated from start to end with dazzling football. Belgium was completely outplayed, to the point Thys substituted Scifo afraid such game may destroy his psyche. Platini, playing his 50th match for France, excelled and scored 3 goals. At the end it was 5-0 France, but in a curious twist, there was one more hero – Pfaff had wonderful game too. Hard to praise a goalkeeper receiving 5 goals, but if not for him the result easily could have been at least 8-0. Strangely, Belgium did not assign personal marker to shadow Platini – the Danish example proved such approach helpful, but Belgium did not follow, it was unfamiliar strategy for Thys and his team. There was nothing to do except to try avoiding more goals. France excelled, but still the key problem continued – Lacombe and Six did not satisfy more than the previous combination of Lacombe and Bravo. Apart from that, everything was excellent – France reached the semi-finals and did not allow even a single goal so far.
Denmark – Yugoslavia. Before the match both teams declared that they were looking for victory and nothing else. No doubt – any other result was deadly. Both teams had troubles, but the Danes were seemingly more motivated – they wanted to win for their unlucky captain Simonsen. The Yugoslavs made 2 changes, one of them rather desperate – Simovic was far from convincing keeper against France and now Ivkovic was starter. Katanec was moved to midfield for this match.
What was expected to be fairly equal match with Yugoslavia eventually prevailing, turned out to be entirely different. Denmark was fantastic, Yugoslavia entirely fell apart. If Simovic was weak, Ivkovic was a disaster – Denmark would never scored the first goal, if not his ‘help’, redirecting the ball into his net: Arnesen did not strike at the net, he rather tried to pass somewhere in front of it, for he was at hopeless position at the end line. Zero angle… clumsy Ivkovic redirected the ball and it was 1-0 Denmark in the 8th minute. The second goal was also his doing, another clumsy reaction. And it was enough for moody Yugoslavs to give up. They were slow and ineffective to the end. Even Piontek was surprised the match went so easy. As for Yugoslavs – one more fiasco. They were out. Danish camp was very optimistic – they were sure of a draw against Belgium and reaching the semi-finals. No wonder – the journalists compared them to the great old Ajax. The unstoppable, unbeatable, adorable Ajax.
France – Yugoslavia. Neither team had a reason to play seriously, so Hidalgo had to lecture his players after the first half that the fans in St. Etienne are no worse than the fans in other cities and deserve a good game and a win too. Hidalgo used again 3-5-2 scheme, changing only the attack – Lacombe was out, Rocheteau and Six were now in front and let say it in advance: this new-old combination did not work either, just like any other. Yugoslavia made the usual changes under such circumstances – Ivkovic was out, Simovic was back, and some reserves were fielded, particularly Dragan Stojkovic. So far, the very young talent was coming out as a substitute. A starter, but still unusual one – he was to be personal marker of Platini. Strange decision for a generally attacking playmaker, but young newcomers often get ‘demeaning’ roles.
May be France was not fully motivated, may be Yugoslavia was not convenient opposition, but France struggled a bit. Yugoslavia, on the other hand, played its best match at this championship. Ironic, that. And not exactly a surprise – often teams played their best after losing all important games. Technical Yugoslavs were more difficult for the French for they were similarly skilful team. More or less, Yugoslavia dominated the first half and 19-years old Dragan Stojkovic was surprisingly effective in restraining Platini. May be the referee was unfair, for it looked like a penalty was not given to Yugoslavia a few minutes after their scored the opening goal of the match. The first half ended with Yugoslavia leading 1-0. Things changed in the second half – Yugoslavia slowed down, may be getting tired. Class is class – France took control and turn the match around. Platini scored 3 goals and it was all over in the 77th minute. In the remaining minutes Yugoslavia scored a second goal and it was 3-2 at the end. Not the best match of France, but important from another standpoint: this was very mature team at its peak. Real title contenders – they prevailed in a difficult game. Apart from that, the match ended sadly – the Yugoslav team doctor suffered heart attack and died during it.
Denmark-Belgium. The second semi-finalist of the group was to be decided here. Theoretically, Denmark had stronger chances – a tie was enough. Belgium had no other option, but to win. And the Danes already stated that they were looking for a tie… which perhaps gave better chance to the Belgians. Denmark was already compared to the ‘flying Dutchmen’ of the early 70s and who was best familiar with that Dutchmen, giving them most trouble and often beating them back than? Belgium. Looked like a match of outfoxing. In which the fox was outfoxed.
If Belgians really believed Danish statements, they were for a big surprise – Denmark start the game offensively, clearly aiming at winning, not playing for a tie. The teams knew each other very well, a whole bunch of Danes played in Belgium, teammates now opposed each other – and there was little love or sentimentality: Vendereycken (Anderlecht) viciously tackled Arnesen (Anderlecht) and Morten Olsen (Anderlecht) said after the game that if he had a gun at this moment, he would kill Vandereycken. All between teammates… But it was more football than war and luck played its cruel role too – Denmark was the better team from start, but it was 2-0 Belgium in the 38th minute. Lucky strikes really and let not forget that Denmark had no strong goalkeeper too. No reason to blame Qvist for the goals, but it was ironic that he was the man to turn around the match – early in the second half he saved the impossible. Lucky save, for it was more careless decision of Vandenbergh than some fantastic effort of the goalie, but Qvist deflected the ball anyway and kept the result 1-2. After that Danish dominance produced results and two more goals were scored and Denmark won 3-2. Was the lucky save or the change Piontek made could be a matter of fruitless dispute: Piontek seemingly realized that the current approach was ineffective and dared to enlarge the striking line – he replaced his right full back Rasmussen with Anderlecht’s striker Brylle. This worked. Near the end of the match Belgium pushed forward, but Denmark defended well and survived the assault. And reached the semi-finals, just as they said they will do.
1.FRANCE 3 3 0 0 9- 2 6
2.DENMARK 3 2 0 1 8- 3 4
3.Belgium 3 1 0 2 4- 8 2
4.Yugoslavia 3 0 0 3 2-10 0