If one man has to spoil the Socceroos’ World Cup partly, you’d surely struggle to find an Aussie who would begrudge it being Christian Eriksen.
The Manchester United star is the “heart, soul and brains” of the Danish team vying for the same last 16 spot as Graham Arnold’s Australia — but it is a welcome miracle that he’s even here in Qatar, or anywhere for that matter.
Anybody who saw what happened to Eriksen only a year-and-a-half ago at the European Championships will never forget it.
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The midfielder collapsed on the pitch in a match against Finland and had to be resuscitated in front of a full stadium on live television, images of his lifeless body beamed around the world.
Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest and was technically dead for “three to four minutes” before being revived.
In one of his first interviews after the incident, Eriksen recounted: “I remember it all — except those minutes when I was in heaven.”
Had it not been for the quick thinking of teammates including skipper Simon Kjaer – who placed Eriksen in the recovery position and commenced CPR until medics arrived – he likely wouldn’t have made it.
Surving is one thing, but getting back to the level Eriksen has in mere months since is perhaps an ever greater miracle.
He told his wife Sabrina on the way to the hospital he would probably never play football again but remarkably, was in action just eight months later.
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That was made possible by having an implantable cardioverter defibrillator fitted, although it meant he had to quit Inter Milan where he was playing due to medical rules in Italy.
Eriksen signed for Brentford in the Premier League and, eventually, United where he is now one of their most important players.
Eriksen isn’t back in the national team as a contributor, either. He is against their undoubted main man, both on the pitch and off it.
“Christian is probably one of the most intelligent players that you can come across,” Danish teammate Kasper Schmeical said in Doha on Sunday.
“He is the heart and soul and brains of what we do and he possesses qualities that very few players in the world do — and on top of that, he’s selfless.
“He works his socks off and he runs like crazy for this team and he’s quite simply a world class player. I’m so happy to see him performing at that level week-in and week out at Manchester United.”
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Danish coach Kasper Hjulmand was equally gushing in discussing Eriksen’s influence, describing him as “a football player to his bones.”
“He loves the game, he loves the ball. If you see the way we train he’s always there the latest,” he said.
“He just loves to play football. It’s his big passion.
“I think it’s an inspiration for a lot of people and also for our youth because they can see our own player .. they can see passion for the game. Not a passion for everything that surrounds it but the game itself and the heart and soul of what football is.
“That’s Christian. He’s just in love with football and love with the game and that’s what inspires him, and he inspires us.”
Perhaps that most remarkable journey of any player in Qatar now finds Eriksen standing in the Socceroos’ way.
And thank heavens for that.
