ENGLAND FACED DENMARK, THE MATCH WAS EXPECTED TO BE A HIGH SCORING CONTEST. BUT AN EXCELLENT AND DISCIPLINED DEFENSIVE DISPLAY BY BOTH TEAMS. AIDED BY THE LACK OF FINESSE IN FRONT OF THE GOAL. THUS IT RESULTED IN THE MATCH ENDING 0-0 FORCING BOTH THE TEAMS TO SHARE POINTS.
As the Danish hosted the English in the capital city of Copenhagen on the 8th of september. The match was expected to be a high scoring game. As both the teams had a pretty experienced attack with the likes of Eriksen, Braithwaite and Dolberg in front of the goal for Denmark. For England it was Kane, Sterling and Sancho.
Prior to the game England had a few setbacks as Foden and Greenwood were not available for breaking the COVID – 19 guidelines. Kyle walker was also suspended for this match . Thus Southgate had no other option but to play with an experimental formation of 3-4-3.
England also gave debut to 4 players during their game against Denmark. These included Conor Coady , Maitland Miles , Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips. During the game, England weren’t creative and were not able to produce too many chances. Even after the attack had some bright and experienced players.
England in this match had a back 3, which was something very new for the players as well as for the coach, usually they would have played with a back four. England’s defensive display was also were unstable. As the Danish front 3 were at times easily able to penetrate and exploit the defence.
The Danish defence in this game was rock solid, they hardly made a mistake. They ensured that the English back 3 didn’t get too many chances on goal. However, in the 93rd minute the best chance of the game came for England after some miscommunication between Schmeichel and the Danish defence occurred. Harry Kane tried to make the most out of the opportunity and went past Schmeichel and took a shot on the empty net only for Mathius to make an outstanding goal line clearance.
Denmark had some incredible chances to score but weren’t able to capitalise on any occasion. Which was very disappointing from their point of view as the could have easily scored and won the game
Now with the first 2 match-days concluded in the nations league, tension is building up. Upon both teams as Belgium are sitting at the top of the group table after winning their first 2 games. Denmark need to find the quality in front of the goal back again. England need to come up with some productivity and positive ambition, if they want to finish at the top of the table and qualify for the playoffs.