Minnesota United's Niko Hansen describes drama of player collapsing on pitch as 'very, very scary'

Minnesota United midfielder Niko Hansen sat down Saturday to cheer his teammates Robin Lod and Jukka Raitala for Finland in a UEFA Euro opener — but not at the expense of his beloved homeland and host Denmark.

Instead, he, a Copenhagen crowd and the whole world looked on as medical personnel on the field used CPR and a defibrillator to revive Denmark's Christian Eriksen, a 29-year-old midfielder who collapsed near a sideline during the game.

Hansen was born in Denmark and lived there until he moved to Sacramento when he was 10. He still considers it one of his three homes along with California and New Mexico, where he attended college.

"I don't know him, but I was watching," Hansen said. "It's my home country. It's very emotional. I get emotional thinking about it. It's very, very, very scary for any soccer player. It makes you really think about your life as a soccer player."

Hansen spoke to his dad back home in a soccer-loving nation shook hard by Eriksen's collapse. He spoke as well with some family members there, including his grandmother, in the days after Eriksen was saved and hospitalized initially in stable condition.

"Everyone is, like, it's just scary," Hansen said. "I'm not sure what to say about it. It's one of those things where you're happy to see a semi-good outcome for him. He's alive. At the end of the day, life is more than soccer."

Eriksen in a social-media post from his hospital bed thanked well-wishers on Tuesday and called himself "fine, under the circumstances."

Lod was one of the first to gesture for medical personnel after Eriksen collapsed.

"It looked so bad," Heath said. "But from where we were, it now looks like it's going to be a happy ending because at one stage we all thought it was going to be one of the worst days we've ever seen in football."

The Loons in Tuesday training worked on attacking and defensive shapes against 11 men, attempting to integrate newly acquired attackers Adrien Hunou and Franco Fragapane with star Emanuel Reynoso and the rest of the group until Lod returns. Heath has tried to get Fragapane some rest and Hunou some work during a three-week schedule break.

Reynoso trained with the team Tuesday after he and veteran Ozzie Alonso had worked together with team athletic training staff since the team last played a game, on Memorial Day weekend.

Alonso continued to work on the grass training individually Tuesday while Heath said Ethan Finlay and Wil Trapp both trained with the team and are fine for Saturday's game at FC Dallas.