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Aron Wright - June 12, 2018
Peru vs Denmark
World Cup 2018 – Group C
Date: Saturday, 16th June 2018
Kick-off at 17:00 UK/ 18:00 CET
Venue: Mordovia Arena (Saransk).
Peru versus Denmark is arguably one of the most interesting clash in the first round of 2018 FIFA World Cup. The two teams are joint favorites to grab the second spot in Group C which also includes a talented French side. As per pre-tournament analysis only one team could make it from the group and this is the battle that decides the eventual winner.
Peru is a surprise entrant into the competition and not many people though that they had the slightest of the chance to reach here with five games left to play in the South American qualification campaign. But, Ricardo Gareca’s men bagged 3 wins and 2 draws to trump Chile for the play-off spot. With the win over New Zealand, this exciting South American team is back at the World Cups for the first time in 36 years.
Despite their relatively small stature, Peru had massive impressed in the last two editions of the Copa America under Ricardo Gareca. They were third in 2015 and reached the quarterfinals in 2016.
On the other hand, Denmark are reaching the global competition only for a fourth time in their history. Their best run in the competition was at the 1998 edition when they reached the quarterfinals. Their lowest at the tournament is during their last appearance in 2010 when they failed to make through the group phase for the first time in the competition.
The Danes had a turbulent qualifying campaign in an easy group, but it was a late run that saw 5 wins and 2 draws that placed them just behind Poland to go for the play-offs.
The 0-0 draw against Sweden last week was a dress rehearsal for this particular fixture and we may expect similar tactics and personals in the starting eleven.
The player to watch for is Jefferson Farfan, who is coming on the back of a splendid season with Lokomotiv Moscow and is familiar with Russian conditions.
Gallese – Trauco, Ramos, Rodriguez, Advincula – Tapia, Yotun – Carillo, Cueva, Farfan – Guerrero.
Age Hareide used a 4-3-3 formation instead of 4-2-3-1 while going against Latin America teams, the latest a 2-0 win against Mexico. Therefore, he is likely to stick with the system and deploy Christian Eriksen in the center of midfield alongside the experienced William Kvist and the Thomas Delaney.
Andreas Christensen and Simon Kjaer are both fully fit and could form a rock solid partnership at the center of defense.
Hareide’s main worry is the absence of a genuine goal scorer. Nicolai Jorgensen despite scoring only 8 times in 31 appearances for the national team could get his name in the starting line-up here.
Schmeichel – Dalsgaard, Kjaer, Christensen, Larsen – Kvist, Delaney, Eriksen – Sisto, Poulsen, Jorgensen.
The World Cup Group C clash on Saturday will be the first ever meeting between Peru and Denmark.
This is a tricky one to call to be honest with both sides impressing at the tail end of the qualifiers and then in the subsequent friendlies.
Each side has a 15 unbeaten run to go with, Peru the most impressive with 10 wins and 5 draws. While Denmark accumulated 8 wins and 7 draws during the same period. On top of that, there defensive record during the period has been excellent with Peru keeping 7 cleans sheets from their last 9 and the Danes 6 from their last 8.
Therefore, goals will be at a premium here, also when considering that this is a match that neither managers want to lose and cautious approaches could come to play throughout the 90 minutes.
However, I do feel that Peru have a slight advantage here mainly because of the lack of firepower in Denmark’s attacking front. I will leave you with my correct score prediction of 1-0 in the South American’s favor, but we pick those bets that have a better chance to convert.
Peru vs Denmark Statistical Analysis, ©LeagueLane®
