Hareide thanked Schmeichel for victory

Denmark's coach Åge Hareide.Photo: Svein Ove Ekornesvåg / NTB scanpix

Åge Hareide from Norway was happy and relieved after he led Denmark to a 1-0 victory over Peru in the World Cup. Much of the honour he gave to goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel.

 

‘’He is acrobatic and very fast on his feet. He may be the best in the world when he is in good form. He made a fantastic achievement, and we needed that,” said Hareide, after becoming another Norwegian (after Egil Olsen) who has led a team to win in a World Cup final game for men.

Peru received a penalty kick before half-time and got many chances both before and after Denmark’s winning goal. The penalty kick went high above the goal, but it was usually Schmeichel who got a body part in the way of the potential goals.

“Peru has an outstanding team and I have great respect for their achievement.

They certainly deserved more today, but such is football. We were lucky today,maybe Peru will be next time,” said Hareide.

Burdened
“They did a lot to try to equalise, but we must also acknowledge Schmeichel’s achievement.The rest of the team also worked hard and helped keep the zero for the fifth consecutive time.

Hareide believes that the Danish players were slightly burdened by the seriousness of the moment in an arena where the Peru supporters were in a clear majority.

‘’Maybe that was what we feared most.The game was very variable. I think the players were a little nervous today,’’ he said, looking forward at the next match against Australia.

“It will be an equally hard affair, but we have got a good start.

From bad to hell
Attending a press conference was match winner, Yussuf Yurary Poulsen, who was
voted the of the match, although he initially twice fought opponents in his own box.

The last resulted in the penalty kick.”It was a special match for me. At first I was the villain, and then I ended up the hero,’’ said Poulsen.

“It was not our best match, but we gave it our all. With regard to will and effort,you can’t put your finger on anything. We threw ourselves at blocking their finishes.

We’ll take that along,’’ he said.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today