Denmark outshines Moldova
For the second time in Group F of the World Cup qualifiers, Denmark met the mini-putt nation Moldova. The first match ended 8-0 to Denmark at home. The second showdown, which was played on Saturday night, was Denmark's first away match ever in Moldova.
Earlier in the evening, Scotland won 3-2 over Israel after an overtime score. Therefore, a Danish victory would still not be enough to finally send Denmark on to the World Cup finals in 2022 in Qatar. A victory would, however, mean that Denmark could put seven points away from Scotland with just three qualifiers left.
Before the match, the Danes were big favorites against Group F's bottom stopper, who earlier in the qualification has only picked up a single point. In fact, only Moldova, which is number 180 on FIFA's world rankings, has managed to win a single one of the nation's last 24 international matches.
If there was any doubt as to whether the Danish national coach Kasper Hjulmand took the task in Moldova's capital Chisinau seriously, the starting line-up left no question. Only one player, Jannik Vestergaard, was not re-elected from the Danes' 5-0 victory over Israel in the latest World Cup qualifier.
On the field, there was no doubt in the first half that Denmark were favorites. In the first small 20 minutes of the match, however, the Danes had a hard time opening a compact Moldova defense, which would clearly try to keep Denmark from scoring as long as possible.
As long as possible became 23 minutes. Andreas Skov Olsen opened the Danish goal party. With that scoring, the Danes got a hole in the boil. Ten minutes later, captain Simon Kjær doubled the lead when he almost certainly hammered a penalty kick via the crossbar into the Moldova cage.
Denmark started to move the ball around faster, and it tore Moldova's press play wider. This meant that the Danes got more space without opponents to combine around the home team's field.
As the half was nearing completion, Moldova's defensive line was transformed into a sieve. With his first national team goal, Christian Nørgaard put the Danes ahead 3-0, before Joakim Mæhle made it 4-0 shortly before the halftime whistle.
In the second half, it was clear that the Danes had the necessary result. The game became less goal-seeking, but the combination game was allowed to flow in best going. The Danes continued the clear predominance in game dominance, and did not allow the major Moldova conversions.
In the last twenty minutes, the Danes again became more approachable about Moldova's goal. However, the home team struggled with everything they had in them defensively, and therefore it remained close and almost for the Danes.
However, the convincing victory was never in jeopardy. In the 90 minutes of the match, Moldova did not manage to register for a single match in the match.
The victory means that Denmark is still undefeated in the World Cup qualification Group F, and in addition, the Danes have still not collected a single goal as the only team in the European qualification. If Denmark wins the next match against Austria, then the Danish national team is ready for next year's World Cup final.