On This Day – 25th April
Peter Schmeichel played his 129th and final game for Denmark on this day back in 2001.
He played 65 minutes in a 3-0 victory over Slovenia at Copenhagen before coach Morten Olsen replaced him with Peter Kjaer. Schmeichel left the pitch to a standing ovation from every one of the 32,526 in the Parken Stadium.
The most famous moment of his 15 year career for the Danish national team was their victory in Euro ’92. Schmeichel played a major part along the way.
Denmark shouldn’t have even played in the tournament as Yugoslavia had qualified, but had to withdraw due to the war that had broken out in their country.
In the Semi-Finals, Denmark drew 2-2 with Holland after extra-time to take the game to penalties.
In the shootout, Schmeichel would be Denmark’s hero after he saved Marco van Basten’s penalty. The Danes didn’t miss any of their kicks and won the shootout 5-4.
Denmark took their place in the Final, beating Germany 2-0 to win their only major honour to date.
Peter Schmeichel captained his Danish national team on thirty occasions and played in three European Championships and a World Cup.
He even scored a goal for Denmark, finding the back of the net with a penalty against Belgium shortly before Euro 2000.
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