Yesterday I published my list presenting the three most interesting group stage matches in the World Cup 2018. Since then I read some comments on Reddit, and one of them was about the Denmark vs. Peru match, and I was intrigued!
It was in the following thread on Reddit that some people started discussing my article on the top three group stage matches in the World Cup. It was a comment made by a guy that said “Agree these are all excellent games, but, I think Peru v. Denmark will be interesting. Both going in with 15 games without a loss.” That sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
The discussion went on, and it was discovered that they haven’t played 15 matches with losing, but it was quite close. Take a look at the following stats presenting the last matches of Denmark.
Denmarks last matches
2018
Mexico, June 9th, 2-0
Sweden, June 2nd, 0-0
Chile, March 27th, 0-0
Panama, March 22nd, 1-0
2017
Ireland, November 14th, 5-1
Ireland, November 11th, 0-0
Romania, October 8th, 1-1
Montenegro, October 5th, 1-0
Armenia, September 4th, 4-1
Poland, September 1st, 4-0
Kazakhstan, June 10th, 3-1
Romania, March 26th, 0-0
2016
Kazakhstan, November 11th, 4-1
Montenegro, October 11th, 0-1
If you take a look at the list you can see that Denmark has not lost a match since October 11th in 2016 against Montenegro. And yes, that is 14 matches ago. So, what’s up with Peru?
Peru’s last matches
2018
Sweden – June 9th, 0-0
Saudi Arabia – June 3rd, 3-0
Scotland, May 30th, 2-0
Iceland, March 28th, 3-1
Croatia, March 24th, 2-0
2017
New Zealand, November 15th, 2-0
New Zealand, November 11th, 0-0
Colombia, October 11th, 1-1
Argentina, October 6th, 0-0
Ecuador, September 5th, 2-1
Bolivia, September 1st, 2-1
Uruguay, March 29th, 2-1
Venezuela, March 24th, 2-2
2016
Brazil, November 16th, 2-0
Peru hasn’t lost a match since November 16th in 2016 when they played against Brazil. That is 14 matches ago.
What can we expect from Denmark vs. Peru?
As Denmark and Peru march onto the Mordovia Arena on June 16th at 18.00 (CET) we will see two teams who have forgotten what it is like to lose (almost). Denmark hasn’t lost a match since 2016, and neither has Peru. What effect will this have on the teams? I am not sure if the players care about stats like this, but it probably means that both squads are filled with self-confidence.
Both teams have played against Sweden in the last weeks, and both teams played 0-0 against Sweden. It doesn’t have to mean a lot, but it might show us an image of a match that will be tough, close, and without a lot of goals. Denmark has their general Christian Eriksen, and with him, they are capable of almost everything. On a good day, Denmark can beat Poland 4-0 and Ireland 5-1, making them a team able to score lots of goals. Peru is a bit more modest when it comes to scoring goals, but this can easily turn into a match that will end with a 2-2 result. But, my fear says that it is more likely to end with 0-0.
Denmark has no big profiles next to Christian Eriksen, and Peru has no big stars either. But, they do have Edison Flores. Who is he? He might not be a famous guy, but he plays for AaB in Denmark, making him a guy with lots of knowledge of Danish football, something that might come in handy before and during the match.
Playing at the brand new Mordovia Arena
The match will be played at the brand new Mordovia Arena, a venue built for the FIFA World Cup. It has a capacity for 44,000 people, but once the tournament has ended, they will reduce the capacity to 28,000. The stadium is located in the city of Saransk, located about 650km from Moscow. The city has a population of a bit more than 300,000 people.
