Denmark
The Road to the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Denmark reached the World Cup via the European play-offs, having finished second in their group behind Poland, who were led by the free-scoring Robert Lewandowski. The Danes ended up five points behind the Poles, despite routing them 4-0 at home.
In the play-offs, Denmark faced Ireland, and failed to break down the dogged Irish defense in the first leg at home, which ended 0-0. In the return fixture in Dublin, Age Hareide’s team conceded six minutes into the game, but midfield maestro Christian Eriksen then stepped up to run the show, scoring a hat-trick as the Danes romped to a 5-1 win.
Stars
Christian Eriksen is the Danes’ biggest star. The Tottenham player bagged 11 goals in qualifying, with only Robert Lewandowski, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku scoring more.
Eriksen showed significant promise as a youngster. Chelsea and Barcelona were reportedly interested in the skillful Dane, although Eriksen ended up signing with Ajax, where he won three Eredivisie titles before moving to Tottenham. With the London club, Eriksen has scored some stunning goals and his assists have helped teammate Harry Kane become one of the Premier League’s top strikers.
Denmark’s first-choice goalkeeper is Kasper Schmeichel, who also plays his club football in England. The son of the famous Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, Kasper has come a long way toward emulating his father, and won the Premier League title with club team Leicester City during their miraculous season in 2015-16.
Upfront Nicklas Bendtner has reemerged as an option for the Danes. Around a decade ago, Bendtner seemed to have a bright future ahead of him in England, although the talented former Arsenal forward will be remembered partly because of his colorful private life, including an affair with Danish baroness Caroline Fleming and raucous parties, during one of which he was photographed by the paparazzi with his pants down. Today, 30-year-old Bendtner has finally settled down, it seems. He plays for Norway’s Rosenborg and his form has been such that he’s been recalled for the national team.
Coach
Norwegian Age Hareide, 64, has spent most of his coaching career in Scandinavia. In his home country, Hareide won the title once and the Norwegian Cup twice, while in Sweden he won the title with Helsingborgs and Malmo. He added to those accolades in Denmark, where he won the Superliga with Brondby – although the title victory was a dramatic one. Shortly before the end of the season, Hareide suddenly left the team. He faced various accusations from fans over his departure, and only a few years later did it emerge that his wife had been suffering from cancer, and that Hareide had quit to help her successfully beat the illness. Hareide was appointed manager of Denmark in December 2015, immediately after the team had lost to Sweden in the play-offs for a place at Euro 2016 in France. The Norwegian replaced Morten Olsen, who had spent 15 years at the helm.
Past Achievements
Denmark have qualified for the World Cup finals four times previously, the first of which was in 1986. Captained by Morten Olsen and with 21-year-old Michael Laudrup in the lineup, Denmark were grouped with West Germany, Uruguay and Scotland – and surprised everybody by winning all three games, including a 6-1 rout of Uruguay. In the round of 16, though, the Danes faced Spain and lost 5-1.
The next time Denmark qualified was in 1998. Again, the team made it into the knockout stage, even though they were grouped with the hosts and future champions France. Denmark lost 2-1 to ‘Le Tricolor’, but drew with South Africa and beat Saudi Arabia. In the first knockout stage, Denmark faced unfancied Nigeria, and Bo Johansson’s team thrashed the Africans 4-1. In the quarter-finals, the team played well against Brazil and even scored two minutes into the game, but Rivaldo netted a brace and sent the Scandinavians packing.
Finally, four years later in South Korea and Japan, Denmark made it to the knockout stage once again, even though they were again in the same group as France. They beat the then-world champions, but in the round of 16 were stopped by England, losing 3-0. On the plus side, Jon Dahl Tomasson scored four goals and was ranked third in the scoring charts, level with Italy’s Christian Vieri.