FIFA World Cup 2018: Denmark vs Australia

A win against Australia would have been enough for Denmark to go through the round-of-16 but it wasn’t here that they progressed despite the fact that the Danes scored the opening goal after just six minutes in the match.

After the win against Peru in the opener, Denmark lined up an almost unchanged starting XI with Lasse Schone for the injured William Kvist being the only change.

Denmark controlled the game through possession at the beginning, using Nicolai Jorgensen’s movement to attack Australia’s backline. This pattern has to be considered alongside with Jens Stryger Larsen pushing higher up the field on the left flank. Larsen’s runs have been effectives and they also opened spaces exploited by Pione Sisto.

In fact, with Socceroos shifting on the wide area to contain Larsen, Australia tended to lose their horizontal compactness, leaving both Sisto and Christian Eriksen free to roam in the left half-space and in the centre. With the ball on the far side, Australian back line and midfield turned their focus on the middle and their left defending area which made Danish able to exploit Socceroos’ right defending zone through passes to Larsen, particularly through some nice, diagonal balls from right centre-back Simon Kjaer.

This game plan was nicely executed by Denmark and led to Eriksen’s goal. It happens starting from a Schone’s forward pass forward under pressure that surprised Australia. The ball goes to Jorgensen who is able to play a two-touches pass with the outside of his boot to the upcoming Eriksen. Denmark’s star player made a great half-volley shot bursting into the gap created by his mate’s movement.

It was Eriksen’s 13th goal in his last 15 appearances he made for Denmark. But this goal was much more than it. It was the epitome of Denmarks collective approach to the game. Each player involved perfectly understood his teammates’ movements. On his part, Eriksen – Denmarks best player – wasn’t the man charged with the expectation to sparkle outside from the context but rather a bright footballer inserted in the cohesive and tactically ready side.

However, as the game