If this were a nod to what England and Belgium might serve up then make alternative arrangements on Thursday night. In our Russian paradise we had forgotten football could be like this, players drunk on apathy in a match of no consequence played out to a chorus of boos and whistles.
Read more: What are the weaknesses England can exploit?
Ultimately the first goal-less draw of the tournament could not escape the circumstances. France had already qualified and a draw would be enough to take Denmark through. Neither of these teams were busting their chops to get a win they didn’t need. Didier Deschamps did as he promised, resting half his team, No Paul Pogba, no Kylian Mbappe, no Hugo Lloris, no Samuel Umtiti, not much of anything really.
More convenience than collusion
France pinged it about nicely, Denmark were happy to let them have the ball. You wouldn’t call it collusion. You might call it convenience. There was the odd eruption of intent, Raphael Varane going close-ish with a header from an early corner, Ousmane Dembele flashing a shot wide of a post.
At the other end Denmark had Steve Mandanda hopping about in goal a couple of times in the opening half hour but nothing that smelled like intensity. Maybe news of Andre Carillo’s goal for Peru against Australia in the 18th minute made its way onto the pitch. Since Australia were the only team that could deny Denmark passage to the last 16, the contest geared down to training ground pace. It was all over by the 50th minute when Peru cracked their second.
It is fair to say this tepid stand-off did not meet the expectation at a World Cup believed by some to be the best of the modern era, certainly since 1978, hallmarked by the competitive fervour of the matches. Only when the ball fell to Denmark’s Pione Sisto did the needle move. Think N’golo Kante in attack, a proper box of tricks with a seemingly inexhaustible engine.
Spoilsport
As the clock ran down towards half-time, expectation that something might be cooking rose when Antoine Griezmann raced out of defence following a Denmark corner. As he crossed the half-way line and arrowed towards the Danish box Huddersfield stopper Mathias Jorgensen chopped him down from behind. Spoilsport.
It was the last act of a dire 45 minutes. Jorgensen went into the book but that did not satisfy the crowd who sent the teams down the tunnel to a football soundtrack rarely heard thus far in Russia, disdain. And if you thought that was loud, the rebuke at the end of an even more featureless second half would have drowned out the traffic around the M25.
At least France had the decency to clear off pretty much straight down the tunnel. In a show of urgency entirely missing in the match the Denmark players assembled before their fans at one of the field, joined hands and let go an almighty cheer in celebration of making it through to the last 16.
More on World Cup:
Is VAR working? The three best and worst decisions from the World Cup so far
Ignore the moaners: World Cup proves that more VAR not less is way forward for football
England’s set piece dominance the reward for lessons learnt on basketball court
The post Tepid stand-off between France and Denmark fails to meet World Cup’s high standards appeared first on iNews.
from Football – iNews https://ift.tt/2lzMV1C
Post a Comment