When the FIFA World Cup 2022 group stage draw was made one fixture which jumped out was the one between the reigning champions France and Euro 2020 semi-finalists Denmark, which forms the third game of a tasty Saturday in the tournament.
France got their title defence off to an emphatic beginning when they thrashed Australia 4-1 and a win here will send them into the knockout stages. Denmark avoided defeat in their first game and they’ll be nicely placed to progress if they win here.
Where to watch
This match will follow the second game of the day on ITV 1. The build-up will begin at around 3.05pm depending on how much injury time there is in the previous match. Kick off is at 4pm.
France
When you consider all the injuries they had going into the tournament and the fact that the last time they attempted to defend the World Cup trophy they were dumped out in the group stage, France probably couldn’t have dreamt of the start to the campaign that they had. Australia were never going to be the toughest test they would get in that first game but sometimes in sport it isn’t just about winning, sometimes how you win can be even more important.
In an ideal world when you have to cover a few absentees and silence a few doubters the one thing you need is big players to hit the ground running so for Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappe to open their accounts and for their attacker players overall to get time on the pitch and build some confidence was very encouraging. There are still question marks over their defence and that department might be tested more here but all in all it was a positive beginning for the reigning champions.
Denmark
Given the expectations of Denmark coming into the tournament and the positive strides they have made, there was an air of disappointment about what they delivered against Tunisia in the opening match. Some of that was down to playing a side who didn’t really show much ambition but it did also highlight the concern which was whether they have the quality within their forward ranks to go deep in the competition.
Some of that display would also have been down to getting themselves into the tournament and not wanting to lose their opening match, especially when you consider what happened to them in the first game of Euro 2020, but even so I was left disappointed. The one thing we did see from the Danes was a defensive organisation and they will need all of that and more in this match, but they did the double over France in the Nations League recently and should take plenty of confidence from that into this one.
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Team News
France will be forced into a change for this match after Lucas Hernandez tore his ACL in the win over Australia. His brother Theo Hernandez is expected to replace him. Raphael Varane could come into the centre of the defence.
Denmark suffered a blow in the opening match of the tournament when Thomas Delaney picked up a knee injury which will rule him out of the remainder of the event. Brentford pair Mikael Damsgaard and Matias Jensen are favourites to replace him.
Betting
Much will be made of the fact that Denmark won both Nations League meetings against France earlier in the year, and while it is relevant, I’m not convinced France cared much for that competition. What Denmark will take from those matches is that they can score against this France rearguard and after the earlier result Denmark don’t really gain much with a draw here so there is no reason why they shouldn’t have a good go at this because even with a defeat they would still be in the position where they need to beat Australia to progress. France looked very good in their opening game and while a draw would put them in a good place to qualify a win would seal the deal and also it would put a bit of a marker down. I thought coming into this tournament that France would be better off getting forward and taking the heat off their shaky looking defence and that’s what I expect them to do here. In what should be an open game I’m looking at over 2.25 goals in this one.
I’ll also have a small play on the Leeds United right-back Rasmus Kristensen to pick up a second card of the tournament. He is a pretty aggressive defender and he is up against the best attacker in world football in Kylian Mbappe and doubling up down that side will be Theo Hernandez so if anything is mistimed he is going to be in trouble. The general consensus would be that when a player is on a booking he’ll ease up to avoid a suspension but I don’t think it is the worst outcome in the world if he misses the Australia game in allowing his aggression to give Denmark a better chance of a result here. Even if he goes into the game thinking of being cautious to avoid a ban once the game is underway and the emotions start flowing he could easily forget all that. 11/2 is massive on a bloke who has averaged a card every third game in the Premier League this term.
Tips
Back Over 2.25 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.99 with Bet365
Back R.Kristensen to be booked for a 1/10 stake at 6.50 with Bet365
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