They then knew they had to beat Russia in the final match, and they hammered them 4-1 to go through in third place in Group B.
Danny Ward has also been magnificent in goal, despite having played more matches for Wales in the Euros than he did for Leicester City this season.
For Denmark, Yussuf Poulsen and Martin Braithwaite are a danger up front, while they have a neat spine to the team with Andreas Christensen, Simon Kjaer, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Thomas Delaney.
How they stack up: Wales will try to operate on the counterattack, looking to soak up the pressure and then hit them on the flanks through James and Bale, and then trying to find Moore to cause havoc in the penalty area.
Damsgaard and the tricky Joakim Maehle are their other main threats, but they are also happy to have a go from anywhere: they had the most shots in the group stages out of any team .
This match will be played back at Eriksen’s old Ajax home in Amsterdam, so expect the bulk of the support to be in Denmark’s favour.
Form guide: Italy sailed through their group with three wins and was able to rest eight players for the third and final match against Wales.
Key players: Jorginho isn’t the only Italian midfielder who can pass, but he’s the “point guard” for this team, setting the tempo and controlling the play.
David Alaba is Austria’s biggest name and most gifted player.
Austria like to build play from the back as well — certainly more than any of the teams Italy faced in the group stage — and it’ll be interesting to see how they cope with the Italian press.
Italy will need to deal with the threat of Sabitzer and Baumgartner running into the box, whereas Austria’s main concern defensively will come on the flanks.
Despite finishing third in Group D, the Czech Republic had secured qualification before losing 1-0 to England in their final group game, with a win against Scotland and draw against Croatia highlighting their ability to get results in the competition.
While much of the focus is on Memphis Depay, who has just completed a move from Lyon to Barcelona, former Liverpool midfielder Wijnaldum has been the star man to date by excelling in a more advanced role than he played under Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
Patrik Schick has been the outstanding performer for the Czechs so far, with the Bayer Leverkusen forward also netting three goals in three games.
How they stack up: The Czechs are a well-drilled and disciplined outfit, but they also have players capable of hurting the Dutch, including Schick, Tomas Soucek and 18-year-old Adam Hlozek.
Having already faced England and Croatia, two of the strongest teams in the tournament, the Czechs may be more match ready for this one than the Dutch, who emerged from a weak group with Ukraine, Austria and North Macedonia.
But while the Czech Republic should not be underestimated, it is clear that momentum is with the Dutch after their winning start to the tournament.
The Dutch do lack a cutting edge, though, and might may prove their downfall, if not against the Czechs then against a more formidable later opponent.
Form guide: Except for 45 minutes against Denmark, Belgium were comfortable in Group B, finishing top with a perfect record and scoring seven goals.
Key players: Portugal have got enough attacking talent in Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Jota and Bruno Fernandes to cause Belgium problems, but they gave up too many chances in the group stage, and they will need Ruben Dias in top form if they are going to stop Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku in Seville on Sunday.
Belgium’s key man is De Bruyne.
Belgium will look to get De Bruyne on the ball in little pockets around the penalty area as much as possible so he can flick passes in to Lukaku, something that worked well against Finland.
Martinez was able to make eight changes for the last group game, with Youri Tielemans and Leander Dendoncker given the night off, while Portugal needed a full team to earn a 2-2 draw with France to make sure they didn’t go home early.
Despite finding the net against Poland, Alvaro Morata has looked short of confidence, and he will need to be more clinical if Spain are going to make it through to the later rounds.
Croatia have won two out of the past three meetings, one at the last Euros and again in the Nations League in November 2018.
Spain will need the experience of Sergio Busquets to help win the midfield battle against Modric, and the pair should know each other well after their many clashes playing for Barcelona and Real Madrid.
If the Swiss can’t cope with him, he’ll be able to dictate the pace of the game and will be able to find his front three.
Xherdan Shaqiri scored twice against Turkey, but was poor in their first two games.
We saw France deal really well with Germany’s 3-4-3 formation in the group stages, meaning the key to this game will be Pogba and N’Golo Kante: they’ve never lost when starting together and have yet to find an opponent capable of causing them problems. Switzerland struggle without the ball and could really struggle to prevent the French from developing their attacks.
Form guide: England were one of only two teams to keep three clean sheets during the group stage , beating Croatia and the Czech Republic either side of drawing against Scotland.
Manager Gareth Southgate has rotated the supporting cast behind Kane to generate the movement in advanced areas that can give him the space to thrive, but it looks as if Raheem Sterling and one other from Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford or Jadon Sancho will form England’s forward line.
There is consternation in Germany over Joachim Low’s use of Joshua Kimmich, given he has established himself as an excellent defensive midfielder only to be often used as a right wing-back in this tournament.
There is pressure on him to do so from fans excited by the attacking talent contained within the squad, and there are big decisions ahead, not least whether he switches to a back three to match up with Germany as he has often done against top sides.
Doubts remain over the 3-4-2-1 shape with Serge Gnabry as a false nine, but the Bayern Munich winger performed well there before Euro 2020 and the individual quality Germany possess make it eminently possible they could begin peaking at the right time, as they have so often done in past tournaments.
10s could tempt England into playing two defensive-minded midfielders again, but with that comes pressure to use the ball more inventively than Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips have largely done to date.
That was their first goal in 365 minutes of Euros action, dating back to their opener in Euro 2016, so they have found goals hard to come by.
In their opener against the Dutch, they came back from two goals down to level the match, only to lose 3-2 thanks to Denzel Dumfries’ 85th-minute winner.
Forsberg will get plenty of headlines for his three goals in as many matches, and he has been outstanding, but Isak is a wonderful player who has delightfully tricky feet and a tendency to drop deep and fashion his own chances.
His first was a delightful arching, curled effort against the Dutch, and his other, against North Macedonia, was more straightforward as he tapped in at the far post to help his side to that key win.
How they stack up: Sweden can play a variety of ways, but their style will likely be a hybrid of how they tackled their second and third group matches rather than their opener against Spain, in which they had just 15% possession.
Their options up front are dangerous, with Yarmolenko dovetailing neatly with Yaremchuk and Malinovskyi, so there are zero concerns there, but they must find a way to improve their transitional play and service to the front men.