1992 European Championship

Denmark's remarkable success in winning Euro 92 was as unexpected as their actual participation in the tournament. The Danes only joined in the party as a result of the political instability in Yugoslavia, which had forced them to pull out. Denmark, having finished second in the qualifying group to the Yugoslavs, were the team chosen by UEFA to stand in.

Early on they failed to impress and were lucky to survive unimpressive performances against England (drawn 0-0) and Sweden (lost 1-0) before managing to string their game together for the last group match against France.

Larsen's early goal was cancelled out by the mercurial Jean-Pierre Papin - outstanding throughout France's limited involvement - before Lars Elstrup stretched out a leg to reach a Kim Vilfort cross to put the Danes 2-1 up.

Then, despite suffering numerous injuries, they took the lead twice in their semi-final with a complacent Holland.

Henrik Larsen, enjoying a good spell of form, scored twice in the first half only for his efforts to be cancelled out by first Dennis Bergkamp and then, five minutes from time, Frank Rijkaard.

Holland, one of the favourites to win, failed to take the game by the scruff of the neck and in the resultant penalty shoot- out, Dutch striker Marco van Basten - the shining star of 1988 - had his penalty saved by Peter Schmeichel.

Against Germany, Denmark showed skill, cunning and determination in abundance. The Danish win in the Final was well merited and was built on frustrating the Germans into resorting to questionable strong-arm tactics.

Arsenal-bound John Jensen scored a rare goal after 18 minutes, as the Danes more than held their own in the first half. After the break, with Germany becoming more and more desperate, Kim Vilfort capped a fairytale fortnight with a goal twelve minutes from time.

Apart from the marvellous Danish story, the Championship was something of a disappointment.

Scotland had managed to qualify for the first time in their history and in all gave a good account of themselves, losing unluckily to both Germany and Holland. They were fully deserving of winning their third match, where they outplayed the CIS.

Before the tournament many observers had tipped Holland, the defending champions, to do well again.

They looked controlled and stylish, with most of their heroes of 1988 still at the top of their game. In the group stage the Dutch did indeed impress - Bergkamp gave the Dutch a narrow win over Scotland and was the inspiration behind their stylish 3-1 win over Germany.

Despite missing their skipper Lothar Matthaus, the world champions still went in as one of the favoured sides and despite losing that game against Holland, they still felt confident of being able to go all the way.

At the Rasunda stadium in Stockholm, the Germans quickly took control of their semi-final with Sweden through a Thomas Hassler goal on eleven minutes. In truth, the Swedes never really recovered from such an early set-back, despite playing the best football of their tournament.

When Riedle added a second on the hour mark, Sweden looked down and out. But five minutes later, Tomas Brolin scored his third of the tournament to bring the Swedes back into the match.

Riedle scored his second of the match to make it 3-1 with a couple of minutes left but from the re-start, a hopeful cross into the box was misjudged by Bodo Illgner and Andersson headed home.

It was too late though, the Germans won 3-2 and went into their fourth European final. In what was a bruising match, Germany picked up injuries to key defenders which only piled on the agony suffered by Rudi Voller's earlier withdrawal in the group stages.

For England, Euro '92 was a massive disappointment. Graham Taylor was confident of England's chances at the outset but those were soon dented by the loss of key players such as Paul Gascoigne, John Barnes and Mark Wright.

After playing poorly against Denmark, and with the hosts Sweden to come in the third match, the game against France was crucial for the Three Lions.

French defender Boli should have been sent off for head-butting Stuart Pearce who earlier had crashed a wonderful free kick against the underside of the French crossbar.  The late introduction of Alan Shearer couldn't prevent a second 0-0 draw for England, which meant having to beat the Swedes to qualify for the semis.

A David Platt goal after just four minutes gave England the perfect start and Andy Sinton and Tony Daley had further chances to extend England's lead.

However, Sweden stepped up the pressure after the break and Jan Eriksson, with a header from a left-wing corner, and Tomas Brolin, after a marvellous one-two with Martin Dahlin, scored the goals which sent Taylor's men home.

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