Classic Game: DENMARK 4-1 Nigéria

Math1990

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well this is one of the classics of football And it was a hit on the caste system in its beginnings in football in The 90s

1998 World Cup Round of 16 the Danes despite having been champions of european Championship of 1992 and The confederations Cup of 1993 They arrived like the ugly duckling against the Nigerians, who had come from a good 1994 World Cup and an Olympic 1996 title, beating Brazil in the semifinals and Argentina in the final.

After beating spain in the group stage of 1998 World cup, the media went into euphoria the nigerians were placed as favorites and compared to brazil, And when the round of 16 clash against Denmark arrived, the media predicted it would be an easy game for the Nigerians And that they maybe even thrashed the Danes

Well, but it seemed that the media had forgotten that the Danes had three phenomenal players Peter schmeichel who one later would win the Champions League with Manchester United, and the Laudrup brothers, Michael Laudrup a phenomenal player one of the best midfielders in history, who had played for Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid and had already won two Champions League and His brother Brian who despite not having a successful career like his brother but had great talent.

On the field, the Nigerian favoritism quickly fell apart, the Danes opened 2-0 and in the second half they scored two more goals, the game ended 4-1 for Denmark with a show by the Laudrup brothers, And displacing much-favorite Nigeria, who took a lesson in how to play football with the Danes



 

Math1990

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Looking for articles from the time I found this gem, of Washington post:https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...denmark/3df0cd69-9485-47f5-927a-a1a7e565638b/

"Just when it seemed that all was unfolding according to form in the 16th World Cup, Denmark rose up Sunday night with an astounding 4-1 victory over Nigeria, which had been considered the best team ever to come out of Africa. That's right, Denmark. With a modest World Cup history of only one previous appearance"

I think it's funny to call Denmark modest in the world cup, Since he had pretty much the same track record as Nigerians in World cups at that time, I also found it funny how Denmark is diminished by media before the game and The media increase nigerians, when the Danes had been champions of european Championship of 1992 beating germany and winners of The confederations of 1995 beating Argentina (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_King_Fahd_Cup), In addition to having great players like the Laudrup brothers and Peter Schmeichel, But it was good because it only made Denmark's victory even better.
 

clement

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that nigeria team was great, a lot better than the morocco team that was the first african one to reach the semi finals at the world cup ever, but they had to face all white teams more often back then so it was more difficult to reach the semi finals
for nigerians it's considered their best team ever

almost all danish goals are goals you no longer see today, the one by sand how he got passed the defender :sisi1
 
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jacknyc

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Michael Laudrup was a great player, with incredible vision and passing.
 

SneakyQuick

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The Danes were dominant in that match and as already said that was a very strong Nigerian team they beat. Ah nostalgia
 
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