France 2-1 Denmark: France secure place in last 16 with game to spare
France earned a hard fought but deserved win over Denmark, with star man Kylian Mbappe making an early claim of player of the tournament.
It was the fourth time that France and Denmark had met in the World Cup.
France had made three changes from the game against Australia, which they won 4-1 on Tuesday. Jules Koundé had replaced Benjamin Pavard at right back and centre back Raphaël Varane replaced Ibrahima Konaté. Left back Theo Hernández replaces his brother Lucas Hernandez after the latter ACL injury sustained in Tuesday’s game.
Denmark changed their formation to a 3-4-2-1 from a 3-5-2 and had made four changes which were Brentford’s Mikkel Damsgaard, Victor Nelsson, Jasper Lindstrom and Andreas Cornelius to try and combat ‘les bleu’.
Denmark started with having the most possession, however France grew into the game and by the end of the half had more clear cut chances, having 13 shots of which three were on target, although only having one corner. Les Blues proved to have more cut and thrust in the first half.
Denmark were trying to unlock the French door, and remained defensively on point with Kasper Schmeichel making some great saves.
France were getting a lot freedom on the left had side which is where most of their chances came from and Olivier Giroud had a few clear headers that should have been on target or assisted a goal.
Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe found themselves in space and created opportunities but were wasted and they could have been a few goals to the good. Both midfields from either side cancelled each other out.
Both sides didn’t want to commit too many people forward but France had the slight advantage with their electric pace up front.
The second half started in the same pattern with both teams showing each other a lot of respect.
On the hour mark Antoine Griezmann found himself with just the goalkeeper the beat but smashed it high over the bar, wasting another opportunity. However, a minute later a breakaway down the left hand side by Kylian Mbappe resulted in a one two with Olivier Giroud and a classy finish to put France 1-0 up.
Kylian Mbappe got the sixth World Cup goal of his career and his 30th international strike.
Denmark pushed on and got their reward for a corner, with Andreas Christensen scoring his third goal for his country with a powerful header which passed Hugo Lloris.
Spaces started to open up all over the pitch with France looking fragile and Denmark looking the stronger.
France weren’t finished with three close chances for themselves, with both teams giving as good as they got.
The winner was decided by the unplayable Kylian Mbappe, who showed great movement to gain a half a yard of space to put away a pinpoint cross from Antoine Griezmann.
France glide into the next round and the World Championships have stamped their authority on the competition already. For Denmark they will still feel confident that they will progress with a win in their last game against Australia hopefully being enough to secure second place in the group.
