Austria 0-4 Denmark
Denmark continue their scintillating start in the World Cup 2022 qualifiers after beating Austria in dominating fashion last Wednesday night.
After a tight first half which saw limited attacking opportunities, the Danes flipped the switch in the second half and they blew the game wide open.
Andreas Skov Olsen scored a brace while Joakim Maehle and Pierre-Emile Hojberg each scored once to help the Danes go unblemished in the tournament.
At this rate they are going, Kasper Hjulmand’s side may become the first European team to qualify for the World Cup tournament in Qatar, as per the World Cup 2022 odds.
Since last year in the UEFA Nations League, the Danes have been opportunistic at every chance they get.
With them placed in a relatively easy Group F, the top spot is theirs to lose since they’ve already recorded three consecutive victories for nine points.
Austria could’ve moved up to second place with a win but they’re now placed fourth in the group after the loss. However, there’s still time to catch up since they’re only one point behind Scotland.
Without further ado, SBOTOP takes a look at last night’s World Cup 2022 highlights.
Highlights of the game
With the Danes firing on all cylinders, this game was clearly theirs for the taking although it didn’t look like it in the first half. Denmark had their chances early on but they simply couldn’t convert.
Their first opportunity came during the 21st minute when Martin Braithwaite put out a strong shot after outpacing multiple Austria defenders. However, it went too wide as his shot was rushed.
Braithwaite threatened again at goal during the 27th minute when he went past Austria’s backline once more and teed up Joakim Maehle in his overlapping run. However, Alexander Schlager and Stefan Lainer laid their bodies on the line to block his shot.
It was Austria’s turn to almost draw first blood during the 42nd minute when Christoph Baumgartner launched a shot inside the box after a clever pull back from Aleksander Dragovic. But Baumgartner’s ball lacked the curl needed for it to go into the net.
In the second half, the Danes were more aggressive and they finally broke through near the half-hour mark.
Substitute Andreas Skov Olsen was on the receiving end of a nifty through-ball from Thomas Delaney and he scored emphatically for their first goal of the evening.
That effort was followed up few minutes later when Joakim Maehle scored after running behind multiple Austria defenders during the 63rd minute.
Denmark feasted on another counterattack two minutes later when Martin Braithwaite found Alexander Schalger out of his goal line and then he found Pierre-Emile Hojberg for an easy finish.
Andreas Skov Olsen capped off Denmark’s masterclass by using his ballhandling trickery to launch the ball at the back of the net for his second goal of the match.
Key statistics
Denmark are now the competition’s top scoring squad. They have already found the back of the net 14 times while conceding zero goals from their counterparts.
As evidence of the Danes’ superb work at the back, they surrendered zero shots on target from the Austrians last night.
Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has yet to break a sweat in the tournament as he has yet to have a single save in their first three games.
Kasper Hjulmand’s squad has now won seven of their last eight international games, with six of them being clean sheets.
Austria, meanwhile, have yet to secure a clean sheet in their last five fixtures.
Yesterday marked Simon Kjaer’s 100th appearance for the Danes, while Christian Eriksen played his 102nd game.
David Alaba, who has been sought after by numerous European clubs, made his 79th appearance while Aleksander Dragovic played his 89th game for Unsere Burschen.
What’s next?
Since the international break is over, all of our players will have to go back to their respective mother clubs.
Denmark will have a mini-series of international friendlies in June as they’ll face Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina. After that, they will commence their Euro 2020 campaign against Finland on June 13.
Austria have England and Slovakia on their menu in their own set of international friendlies in June before taking on North Macedonia in the first game of their Euro 2020 campaign.
Franco Foda’s club will be the heavy underdogs as they are the lowest-ranked team at Euro 2020.
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