Christian Eriksen, who will play for Denmark in the World Cup in Qatar, has said “it’s just amazing to be part of the tournament.”
Less than 18 months after having a cardiac arrest in June 2021 during his country’s opening Euro 2020 game against Finland, the Manchester United midfielder is headed to Qatar for the tournament.
At first, it wasn’t clear if Eriksen would be able to play football again, and Inter released him because he couldn’t participate in Italian league play.
On the international stage, the team’s bond has grown “very tight,” and a subsequent return to the Premier League with Brentford attracted attention and led to a transfer to Manchester United.
“The first thing that I said publicly was that I wanted to be back and having a chance to be at a World Cup and the time that’s happened between then has been really amazing,” he told Sky Sports.
“The bond the team has is very tight, I mean, it’s always been tight but definitely after what happened it’s been even tighter. As a group, even without me the whole group really grew together, together with the country.
“I remember days where there was no fans in stadiums and now it’s sold out even before the game has been announced. So, it’s just amazing to be part of it, the whole group is in a good place.
“Denmark has changed compared to the last tournament [Euro 2020], because the last tournament that we went to we went through to the semi-finals. Now the pressure is on to even get that better than the semi-finals at the Euros. So, I think it’s just go as far as possible.
“I think that’s changed compared to before where before even the last World Cup in 2018, we had to go through the group and then we take it from there. But I think now we’re looking at trying to go as far as possible.”
Denmark’s World Cup campaign gets underway on November 22 against Tunisia, followed by matches against France and Australia in Group D.