Denmark Search For a Point Against France
salajean / Shutterstock.com
The final matches in 2018 World Cup Group C take place on Tuesday afternoon as France meet Denmark.
The options for both teams are quite simple as they look towards the Round of 16. The French have already booked their place in the knockout stages and need a point to qualify as group winners. Denmark know they need a point in this game to secure their place in the Round of 16 and a win would see them top the group.
However, the Danes cannot afford to lose this match because if they lose by 2 goals or more and Australia defeat bottom place Peru, Denmark will drop to third in the group.
With France in the group, this always looked like being a battle for who was going to finish second. Denmark were the favourites to claim second placed prior to the tournament and secured a 1-0 win over Peru in their opening match.
Peru played well in the game and missed a penalty which helped Denmark to a crucial 1-0 win and set them up for the second match, against Australia. The Danes knew a win would probably be good enough to send them through but having taken the lead through Christian Eriksen, Australia won a penalty and scored to pick up a point.
There have been under 2.5 goals in five of Denmark’s last six World Cup games.
France have been far from spectacular in this group but have done enough to seal qualification to the Round of 16 with a match to spare. Now the French will be eying top spot with a win in this game.
Having started with arguably their easiest game in the group against Australia, France took all 3 points but needed a late deflected goal to overcome the Socceroos. It was far from a vintage France performance and they struggled to get into top gear against Peru in their second match.
Peru can count themselves unlucky they did not get something from the game but France scored the crucial goal through Kylian Mbappe on 34 minutes. Despite not hitting their best form, France have quality players throughout their team and one piece of brilliance is all it takes for them to score a goal.
France have scored at least 2 goals in their last three matches against Denmark.
Team news and Denmark will be without midfielder William Kvist who was forced from the field in their previous match against Australia. Andreas Christensen should be fit to start the game in central defence.
France have a doubt over the fitness of Samuel Umtiti and that could mean a place in the heart of the defence for Adil Rami or Presnel Kimpembe. Olivier Giroud is set to keep his place up-front with Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe working off the striker.
The French have yet to hit top gear at the World cup but with qualification secure, this could be the game which sees them take off. Expect a tight first half but the quality of the France team to shine through in the second half to get the win.
Home
Football 
Basketball
Hockey
American Football
Baseball
Rugby
Volleyball
Handball
Esoccer
