Fearless Wales take on Dark Horse Danes
The knockout stages have finally arrived, Wales versus Denmark is the first round of 16 tie of the tournament and it is going to be an intriguing tactical battle between Rob Page and Kasper Hjulmand. Despite losing two of their Group B matches the Danes were able to sneak through in second place after a resounding final matchday 4-1 win over Russia. Taking advantage of some poor defending in parts but it was an overdue result considering their admirable displays against both Finland and Belgium. Wales were more comfortable in Group A, only tasting defeat when they faced Roberto Mancini’s inform Italy and having pretty much sealed qualification from their first two outings.
Background
Wales’ resolute defending particularly after going down to 10 men against Italy really impressed me. It will stand them in good stead for this matchup as they do not have the ball carriers to compete with Denmark in terms of possession but still contain the quality to hurt them in forward areas. This is a real banana skin for the Danish who I see as a little short coming in as odds on favourites. Denmark looked excellent against Belgium in particular, and obviously the scoreline was handsome against Russia, but I would argue that all four of their goals scored in that match were not repeatable. There was a glaring individual error, a screamer from Mikkel Damsgaard and two goals on the counter attack when the Russians were stretched looking for an equaliser. The game scenario is very unlikely to reoccur in this fixture.
With Gareth Bale and Dan James in wide areas Wales will cause problems, it will be interesting to see how the highly rated Danish backline deal with their threat. For me, if the Welsh can get a foothold in the game and be hard to break down, Denmark could run out of ideas. It is a team effort from them, without Christian Eriksen they do not have any mercurial talents in forward areas. Yussuf Poulsen has great work rate and physicality but I do not see him being too hot to handle for the partnership of Joe Rodon and Chris Mepham.
Rob Page will be content on his side sitting back in a low block, with Connor Roberts and Ben Davies tucking into the shield as full backs. With hardworking Joe Allen and Joe Morrell providing a defensive screen, should they frustrate Hjulmand’s men desperation may see gaps appear in forward areas they can exploit. Wales were the surprise package at Euro 2016 and can call on the experience of their run to the semi finals in this outing, the bookies have not respected them as such.
Denmark are too short for me, particularly to get it done in 90 minutes, so I will be using the Asian Handicap to get Wales onside. This selection will see half our stake returned if they lose by one goal.
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
A big loss here, 4-0 to supreme Denmark.