PBP Thread: Match #5, France vs Australia, 16 June 2018 [R]

Denmark is actually my Dark Horse because they are a surprising team: they don't play the typical physical Scandinavian style, they are quite capable of defending Italian style and can pass the ball around fairly well.

If they finish second, they have a very interesting path: either Croatia or Argentina in the R16 (winnable), then Uruguay/Russia/Portugal/Spain in QF (all of them winnable except for Spain, but due to the coach crisis even Spain may be vulnerable now).

So it's possible a semifinal run for the Danes.

 

Well everyone have their own point of view, and we have seen only one match of each team so far, but currently I don’t think this Denmark team can go past the likes of Croatia or Argentina
Even though Argentina have been disappointing in their first match people (especially non europeans) tend to underestimate a lot Iceland, and since the beginning I’m rating Croatia to top this group as they really have a lot of quality.

I need to see what Danish guys will do against Australians, but for now despite their win, I am more scared of Peru.

 

This is actually almost exactly what one of the Swedish football experts at Fotbollskanalen (The football channel) also predict ... Denmark to lose by 0-2 to Germany in the Semi-Finals ... but Eriksen need to play much betten than the unusual poor corners and set pieces he delivered against Peru, if Denmark is to get very far ...

 

You make it sound like Denmark could hardly string two passes together and was playing like headless chickens throughout the match ... As I saw it, Peru started best ... then Denmark slowly took control and also had most possession up until the 1-0 goal in the 2nd half, when Denmark then went into total defensive mode to keep the lead ... you can always argue if they could have defended better or higher at the end, but fact is that Peru did not manage to score ...


But lets have a look at the match stats :

Possession : Peru 52% v 48% Denmark
passes . Peru 394 v 342 Denmark
pass accuracy : Peru 85% v 82% Denmark
balls recovered Peru 42 v 40 Denmark
tackles Peru 12 v 11 Denmark
blocks Peru 2 v 5 Denmark
clearances Peru 19 v 20 Denmark

Attempts on target: Peru 6 v 3 Denmark
Corners: Peru 3 v 7 Denmark
offside: : Peru 5 v 3 Denmark

 

You mean like ze Germans ?

 

Fair enough. I might suffer from confirmation bias because of my disappointment and surprise by Peru's brilliant attacking strength and high pressure. I might have to re-watch the game sometime (when I'm emotionally ready).

My original point still stands though. Denmark has a lot to prove in the Australian game. There's a lot that needs to go different. Åge and his team got a pretty serious wake up call and the verdict is still out on how they're going to handle it. On paper Denmark should be a favorites to win judging from player quality, qualification and friendlies results but most of it comes down to daily form and momentum plus the fact that the Danish team seem to have two different faces. The one that demolishes Poland 4-0 and the one that has trouble against the likes of Panama. You never really know what side is gonna show up. Added to the fact that Australia looks like much stronger side than what most expected.

I believe in a Danish win but I'm really worried. I still remember when Japan trashed Denmark 3-1 in the last WC Denmark attended.

 

MAN OF THE MATCH FRANÇA X AUSTRÁLIA
ANTOINE GRIEZMANN pic.twitter.com/9nj9LWtcVf

— Torcedor de Radinho (@T_DeRadinho) June 16, 2018

 

Well Peru looked at least a level better against Denmark in compare with Mexico that we beat 2-0 in our last friendly before this WC, so I suspect that Peru is also better than both Germany and Croatia at the moment ... Argentina seem to depend even more on Messi than Denmark depend on Eriksen, considering that Eriksen is more of a team player, while Argentina seem to leave everything up to Messi, like if they are affraid of doing much on their own without first getting his approval... and this is not really good for the team ...

 

I didn't see any panic. Concern, yes. But I believe any team in this tournament should be concerned about facing Peru. I actually thought Denmark handled the pressure well. They were never going to match Peru in quickness and energy.

Well, goalkeeping and central defense is one of the strengths of the team. It's normal for a team to rely on its strength. If Denmark is to continue in this tournament, they will have to keep getting these performances from Schmeichel and Christensen.