Denmark National Football Team

Manager / Kasper Hjulmand
Appointed / July 2020
Captain / Simon Kjaer
Top Scorer in Euro 2020 Qualifiers / Christian Eriksen, 5
Top Scorer in Squad (Domestic season 2020-21) / Jonas Wind, 15 (FC Copenhagen, Superligaen)
Most Carded in qualifying / Lasse Schone, 2 yellow cards
Group / B, v Finland (Copenhagen, 12/06/21), v Belgium (Copenhagen, 17/06/21), v Russia (Copenhagen, 21/06/21)

* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing *

Denmark Road to Euro 2020

Demark secured their spot at this summer’s tournament after finishing as runners-up in Group D of qualification. They avoided defeat throughout their qualifying campaign winning four and drawing four to pick up 16 points. This saw them finish just one point shy of group winners Switzerland – Denmark actually had a superior goal difference of 17 and inflicted Switzerland’s only qualifying defeat.

Interestingly Denmark switched managers in July 2020. The reason this is interesting is because the contract of their former boss Aage Hareide was set to expire after Euro 2020. You would have thought then that as the competition didn’t happen last year and was postponed to this year they would simply choose to add another year on, but they decided not to. Kasper Hjumand took over and to be honest the side have really bought into his style of play and are still looking as strong, if not stronger, than under their previous manager.

Denmark Euro 2020 Squad

There are plenty of recognisable names in the Demark squad from several of Europe’s top leagues. Kasper Schmeichel, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Christian Eriksen are three of the Danes’ key players and will be no strangers to those who have followed Premier League football in recent years.

Goalkeeper

There are plenty of recognisable names in the Demark squad from several of Europe’s top leagues. Kasper Schmeichel, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Christian Eriksen are three of the Danes’ key players and will be no strangers to those who have followed Premier League football in recent years.

Defence

As for any successful team a reliable goalkeeper is essential and in Schmeichel they have just that. He will certainly be starting in goal unless picking up an injury and he will surely play a crucial role if Denmark are to build on a strong performance at the 2018 World Cup where they were eliminated on penalties by Croatia in the round of 16. His back-ups are former Huddersfield Town stopper Jonas Lossl and Frederick Ronnow who is currently on loan at Schalke.

Midfield

Now 29 and plying his trade in Serie A, Christian Eriksen is a critical part of the Danish operation and will once again need to lead by example if Denmark are to reach the latter stages of the tournament. Hjumand has tinkered with his midfield/attacking formation but it looks as though he will favour either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1. Tottenham’s Hojbjerg will likely line-up alongside Thomas Delaney of Dortmund and depending on the situation I’d expect Eriksen to either slot into the right side of a midfield three or to operate in his familiar No.10 role.

Attack

While Eriksen has the quality to control a match, Denmark perhaps fall slightly behind some other nations in terms of attacking quality in depth. Martin Braithwaite and Yussuf Poulsen have both featured regularly in recent fixtures and 22-year-old Jonas Wind has occupied the centre-forward position so it would be no surprise to see those three walking out together for their opener.

Denmark predicted line-up vs. Finland: Schmeichel; Christensen, Kjaer, Wass, Maehle; Hojbjerg, Delaney; Eriksen, Braithwaite, Poulsen; Wind. (4-2-3-1)

Denmark Euro 2020 Betting Tips & Predictions

I don’t think the Denmark camp will have had too many complaints about their opponents for the group stages with Russia and Finland two teams who are on paper a class below the Danes. Their biggest challenge will come against the No. 1 ranked Belgian side who are odds-on favourites to qualify as group winners.

Denmark are currently ranked 10^th in the FIFA rankings and I can see them troubling the later stages of the competition should their key players continue to perform at a high level for their national side.  Their fixture list is fairly favourable in that they open their campaign against group outsiders Finland and that is certainly a game they will be expecting to win. If they are able to get three early points on the board that would really take some of the immediate pressure off their second game against Belgium although they’d realistically need to take something away from the fixture if they have ambitions of topping the standings. However, should they end up in a position where they are needing a big result to qualify, I’m sure that Hjumand’s side would fancy their chances against Russia on matchday three. Russia are no slouches and did reach the quarter-finals at the 2018 World Cup which was played in their home nation, but personally I think Denmark have too much quality at their disposal to be too worried about getting out of the groups and beyond.

I like the look of a straight forecast in Group B with Belgium and Denmark to qualify in that order at 3.3. As I mentioned in Belgium’s preview section I think they are deserving group favourites and will live up to that expectation but I fancy Denmark to impress throughout and grab second place.

Throughout 2020 Denmark were really solid when it came to taking care of lower ranked teams, whether that was in the Nations League, World Cup qualifiers or friendlies. They won all seven of their matches against statistically inferior opposition that even included the likes of Sweden and Austria. Six of those seven matches were won by more than one-goal margin and considering that, a price of 2.4 on Denmark (-1) in the handicap market for their opener against 54^th ranked Finland looks appealing.

Now I expect Denmark to actually be somewhat of a surprise package this summer and really feel that a run deep into the competitions is well within their grasp. Assuming they qualified as runners-up from Group B that would set up a tie with the runners-up from Group A – Turkey looks the most likely in my opinion but it could be Italy, Switzerland or Wales. To be honest I would still fancy Denmark to have a great chance of progressing regardless of which of those teams they met in the round of 16. It’s at this sort of stage that I expect the well-balanced mix of youth and experience among the Danish ranks will really become an asset and will be a key part of helping them continue to move forward through some tough ties.

Interestingly I also fancy Austria to put together a decent run from Group C and should they win their group and go on to qualify for the quarter-finals Denmark may find themselves lining up against them. Denmark beat Austria 0-4 in a World Cup qualifier recently and while the result may well be tighter in a tournament match-up I would still be confident that Denmark could punch themselves a ticket to the semi-final. Sadly though this is where I see Hjulmand’s fairy tale first major tournament run ending. Assuming England live up to the expectations and win their group, they will face-off with Denmark for a place in the final (assuming Denmark also takes the path I’ve predicted) and I think that may just be one step too far. Overall a semi-final elimination would be a successful tournament for Denmark and you can get odds of 7.0 for them to be sent home at that stage which looks fairly decent to me.

Predicted stage of elimination: Semi Finals

How to watch Denmark v Belgium in Euro 2020

📅   When / Thursday, 17 June 2021, 17:00 BST
🏟   Where / Parken Stadium (Copenhagen)
📺   TV / BBC One, ZDF
📱   Online streaming / bet365

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