Why West Ham star Mads Hermansen banked praise despite Denmark loss vs Portugal

West Ham United goalkeeper Mads Hermansen endured a mixed night at the office for Denmark on Thursday.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper has made a solid start to the 2026-27 season with West Ham.

The Irons sit second in the Championship, but he has conceded 11 goals and only kept two clean sheets in eight games.

Whether his position is under any kind of threat from Alphonse Areola remains to be seen.

Although, he may not have helped his case in that regard if Nuno Espirito Santo was watching Denmark take on Portugal on Thursday evening.

The Danes fell to a 4-2 defeat to Jorge Jesus' side, and the Hammers keeper will want the two first-half goals he conceded back.

How poor were the first-half goals Hermansen conceded for Denmark?

For Denmark's previous two games of this UEFA Nations League break, Hermansen watched on from the bench.

However, manager Brian Riemer decided to axe Filip Jorgensen for the visit of Portugal, enabling the West Ham shot-stopper the chance to start.

This may well now be a decision Riemer regrets, as Hermansen didn't cover himself in glory in Copenhagen.

Joao Cancelo opened the scoring for Portugal after 13 minutes, as he raced into the box as Hermansen came charging out to close the distance.

In doing so, the Barcelona defender was easily able to dink the ball down Hermansen's near post-side and into the back of the net.

Mikkel Damsgaard levelled things up at 1-1 on 23 minutes, but just two minutes later, Portugal were back in front.

This time it was Goncalo Ramos doing the damage, as from a near-identical position to Cancelo's opener, he passed the ball past Hermansen on his near post.

Hermansen will be extremely disappointed to concede two goals in quick succession like this, and it may have cost him his Denmark role.

But, Danish media still found a moment in his performance to single the Irons keeper out for praise.

Who did Hermansen deny in 'fine' moment vs Portugal?

There was very little, if anything, Hermansen could do about Portugal's two second half goals on Thursday.

Hermansen's best moment of the night perhaps came on 22 minutes, when he denied an effort from Pedro Neto to make things worse.

Danish news outlet TV2 reporter Mathias Leerberg Svedborg said: "Pedro Neto easily gets past Mæhle and finds Rafael Leão, who is completely unmarked at the far post.

"Portugal's new number seven takes a shot, forcing a fine save from Hermansen."

Per FotMob, Hermansen still made six saves against Portugal, was accurate with 88 per cent of his passes and was accurate with six long balls.

He also made eight recoveries and took a total of 53 touches in the game, in what was perhaps a better performance than it looks on paper.

It's about taking confidence from the small things, and Hermansen will need to do that to keep impressing after a rough night.