Australia vs Denmark prediction: WORLD: World Cup betting tips on match 2022-11-29 15:00.
Australia’s first World Cup finals win since 2010, aided by their first clean sheet since 1974, has set up this clash with Denmark as a likely knockout to determine which of the two nations will progress to the Round of 16 with group leaders France. After sarcastically pleading with his critics for “five minutes to enjoy this”, Australian manager Graham Arnold immediately turned to the task at hand, declaring that his side have so far “achieved nothing”.
Four years after these sides recorded a stalemate (1-1) in Group C of the 2018 finals, this will be a perfect litmus test of how both nations have progressed (or otherwise) since then, with Denmark advancing two places in FIFA’s world rankings (tenth) whilst Australia dropped two spots (38th) since the last clash. A repeat of that 2018 result will be enough for the Socceroos to progress unless fourth-placed Tunisia can conquer France half an hour away in inner-west Doha.
France’s favourites tag in that game suggests otherwise, but the pressure is on Denmark here to claim the win they need to have any chance of progressing at Australia’s expense, as they did in Russia four years ago. Denmark could not repeat their two Nations League triumphs over France from earlier in the year, falling 2-1 despite manager Kasper Hjulmand admitting they focused heavily on trying to thwart dual goalscorer Kylian Mbappé.
Hjulmand pointed to his side progressing from the Euro 2020 group stage after losing the first two of their three matches as a source of “hope”, though he could be made to lament what he described as a “slow” performance against Tunisia (0-0) earlier in the finals. Establishing a half-time lead could be key to their fortunes after failing to win each of their last four matches in 2022 that produced a scoreless opening half (D1, L3).
Key battle: As Australia’s first or only goalscorer in their last two international victories, forward Mitch Duke is certainly helping ward off the naysayers in recent weeks. Lining up against him will be defender Andreas Christensen who has been one of Denmark’s bright spots, adding a goal against France to his four shot blocks against Tunisia.
Hot stat: All but two of Denmark’s eight matches in 2022 have seen the winning side register exactly two goals (the others being their 0-0 draw with Tunisia and a 1-0 loss in Croatia).
World Cup trivia: The only goals Oleg Salenko ever managed at international level for Russia came in the group stages at the 1994 World Cup in America. His six goals back then won him the Golden Boot and he remains the only player to win the award with a team that were knocked out in the group stage.