(Football news) Reigning world champions France have the opportunity to seal their place in the Round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar if they defeat Denmark in their second Group D match at Stadium 974 on Saturday evening. Les Bleus defeated Australia 4-1 despite being plagued by a number of injuries while Denmark were held to a goalless draw against Tunisia and desperately needs to win against France to progress beyond the Group Stage.
In-form Olivier Giroud equalled Thierry Henry’s record of highest number of goals for the French squad and the 36 year old could prove to be a good replacement for Karim Benzema for the tournament. Giroud could potentially surpass Henry by scoring his 52nd goal for France against Denmark, which might effectively seal their place in their knockout rounds from Group D. France have already lifted the World Cup winners curse by winning their opening match this time around, something that hasn’t happened since 2006 and will now hope to win six consecutive games at a World Cup for the first time in their history. The last team to achieve that feat was Spain in 2010.
As for Denmark, they currently occupy third place in Group D and manager Kasper Hjulmand has admitted that his side are in a “complicated” situation following their goalless draw against Tunisia. The Scandinavian side have drawn each of their last four matches and could become the second team to play out five successive stalemates. They can take solace in the fact that the team have kept three clean sheets in their last four games but need to score goals in order to progress. Denmark previously defeated France 2-0 in the Nations League and also defeated them 2-1 in June, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility to see an “upset” in this fixture.
In team news, France’s Lucas Hernandez is out of the World Cup after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament and his younger brother Theo Hernandez is expected to take up left back duties in the match. Kingsley Coman did not train with the French squad on Friday but Raphael Varane is finally fit and could potentially make his first World Cup start in this edition against Denmark. So far, Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate have been pairing at the back so far and while neither deserve to be dropped, it’s likely that the Liverpool player will be dropped.
As for Denmark, Sevilla midfielder Thomas Delaney is out of the World Cup after coming off due to a knee injury against Tunisia. Apart from him, Hjulmand has no fresh injury concerns and he could consider Eriksen to be shifted in a more deeper role alongside Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg which means either Mikkel Damsgaard or Jesper Lindstrom could join in attack. Andreas Cornelius, who had one of the worst misses in World Cup history hit the post from a yard out and could be a substitute against Denmark alongside Yussuf Poulsen. A victory for France seems to be the most likely outcome from this fixture, which would mean Denmark will be knocked out of the World Cup.
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