Denmark sends emotional message to Christian Eriksen after star’s cardiac arrest

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Ulrich Ammundsen was surprised and confused about what he had seen and what he was feeling and what he was alleged to do. Christian Eriksen, the star participant for Denmark, had collapsed on the sphere simply earlier than halftime of the group’s sport in opposition to Finland. Watching from the stands, Ammundsen noticed the participant crumple, noticed him trying limp, noticed his teammates circle round him because the medics pushed on his chest.

When Ammundsen arrived house right here very late final Saturday night time, he discovered himself staring into his rest room mirror, unable to course of what had occurred just a few hours earlier.

Even after Eriksen was taken to the hospital, and even after phrase got here that Eriksen was alive and steady, Ammundsen — who’s a number metropolis supervisor for the fan zones in Copenhagen — struggled to course of his feelings. He wished to say one thing, wished to specific one thing about how he felt for Eriksen, wished to inform Eriksen how a lot his unimaginable success means to Danish individuals. Needed to clarify how onerous he had wished for Eriksen to face up once more.

Ammundsen simply didn’t know the way. In order that night time, as he lastly drifted off to sleep, nonetheless turning over in his thoughts the roller-coaster of feelings he had skilled, he got here up with an thought. There’s a wall on the fan zone, he advised his spouse within the morning. Eriksen’s image is already on it. What if the wall, he mentioned, was became a large letter to Eriksen from each Dane who needs to signal it?

– Marcotti: Christian Eriksen’s collapse at Euro 2023 a reminder of the fragility of life

He drove to work. He advised his colleagues. Everybody liked the thought, thought it might be significant and therapeutic. Then Ammundsen realized they didn’t have any markers and hurriedly known as his spouse to ask her to choose some up. She went to the grocery store and dropped them off on the workplace close to the port, and early on Sunday morning, the primary particular person — a person who by probability was on the fan zone with a bunch of coronary heart assault survivors — picked up a marker and wrote Eriksen a message. Then one other fan did. And one other. And one other.

Ammundsen stood again and watched. “I wished to offer everybody an opportunity to ship a message,” he says now. “And right here it’s.”

There may be a lot that also stays unclear about that Saturday, a lot we don’t but know whilst Denmark prepares to play once more, in opposition to Belgium right here on Thursday. What occurred, precisely, that led Eriksen to endure cardiac arrest? And after medics have been in a position to heroically resuscitate him, what does it imply for his life going ahead?

These questions will take extra time. What we do know for sure is the depth of feeling that rippled by way of this complete nation as quickly as Eriksen fell. Soccer here’s a level of unimaginable delight for Danes, and Eriksen’s success — first with Ajax in Netherlands, then Tottenham within the Premier League or this previous season with Inter Milan in Italy — has lengthy been one thing Danish followers may enjoy. To have Eriksen — born, in 1992, the yr Denmark gained their solely Euros, within the small city of Middelfart — main the group on this match, the place Denmark is ready to play Euros video games in its house stadium for the primary time, was a supply of nationwide pleasure.

Then, abruptly, that happiness was minimize. Patrick Hoff Sonne, a 32-year-old Danish fan, was sitting a half-dozen rows from the sphere on the aspect the place the incident came about, and he says he initially thought Eriksen would possibly simply have fainted or felt woozy due to dehydration. That lasted just a few seconds, although, as a result of as soon as the medical doctors started performing CPR, a horrible silence fell over the stadium — “a graveyard silence,” he says — and Sonne felt sick.

“I noticed Christian Eriksen’s girlfriend” just some rows away, Sonne says, and she or he was “carrying [one of] their youngsters in her arms.” A good friend Sonne was with had not too long ago had a toddler himself and started crying beside him. Sonne felt trapped. “I needed to look away from the state of affairs there.”

Sonne left the stadium. He needed to get out, he says, even as soon as he heard that Eriksen was awake as he was taken to the hospital. For Sonne, the shock, disbelief and concern had all blended collectively, and although there was an opportunity the sport would possibly proceed (it will definitely did), Sonne knew he was in no place to cheer.

Within the days since, he has grappled, simply as Ammundsen did, with the right way to come to phrases with seeing an individual he has robust emotions for in such a grave state. Thomas Delaney, a Danish defensive midfielder, has mentioned that he and his teammates have taken nice consolation in speaking brazenly with one another about how they’re feeling (“We’ve all been struggling otherwise in our personal methods”), however Sonne is amongst those that have most popular to keep away from speaking a lot in regards to the state of affairs.

“I’m attempting to avoid the updates and social media and all the pieces,” he says. “I haven’t seen the wall but.”

He tears up. “I haven’t been in a position to write on it.”

Someday earlier this week, a husband and spouse approached Ammundsen in entrance of the wall. They’d an image of their palms and wished to tape it up. Ammundsen requested what it was, and so they defined that their son-in-law was one of many medics who had rushed onto the sphere to avoid wasting Eriksen’s life.

The photograph was an image of him leaving for work earlier that day, hours earlier than the match started.

– Euro 2023 on ESPN: Stream LIVE video games and replays (U.S. solely)
– European Soccer Decide ‘Em: Compete to win $10,000

“When he received house that night time, his 6-year-old was already sleeping,” Irene Dahl explains. “The subsequent morning, when she awakened, she advised him, ‘Daddy, you’re my hero.’”

Ammundsen walked them over to the wall and confirmed them the markers as they taped up the image. A grade college trainer, Pernille Hansen was additionally taking a second to signal herself whereas a few of her college students have been taking part in on the tiny soccer discipline close by. She had seen the sport, after all, however much more she had come into college on Monday morning and heard her college students, most of whom are 14, speaking to one another about what had occurred. A few of them had come straight to the wall that day.

“It’s an enormous deal,” she says. “A few of the college students have been a bit afraid and it’s vital to speak about it. It’s vital for me to write down this message. He’s a superb, good soccer participant, however he’s additionally a [partner] and a father. And we will all relate to that, can’t we?”

Standing close by, Ammundsen nodded. Hansen went again to her youngsters, however quickly one other man got here previous. Then a bunch of teenage boys. One other group of scholars. A businessman on a break.

The messages have already overflowed round a nook from the unique wall, and shortly, Ammundsen says, they must take down some Heineken promoting panels to make room for much more.

“We have been all affected by what we noticed,” Ammundsen says. “It was very emotional.”

He smiles. “We’ll get as many markers as we’d like.”