Team profile: Denmark

1.2204464-3315041912 — Christian Eriksen celebrates his late winner for Tottenham against Swansea. Image Credit: AFP

Appearances: 4
Best finish: Quarter-finals in 1998, 2002
Manager: Age Hareide
Star player: Christian Eriksen

Denmark will be heavily relying on their biggest star Christian Eriksen for their success in this World Cup. The Tottenham player has hammered in 11 goals in qualifying. Only Robert Lewandowski, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku scored more goals than Eriksen.

Eriksen was with Ajax, where he won three Eredivisie titles before, moving to Tottenham where he has scored some stunning goals.

Denmark made it to the World Cup via the European play-offs and had finished second in their group behind Poland. The Danes did thrash the Poles 4-0 at home but still ended up five points behind their group rivals.

Denmark then faced Ireland at home in the first leg but that contest ended in a stalemate 0-0. In the return leg in Dublin, Denmark trailed by a goal just six minutes into play but Eriksen then stole the show with a hat-trick and the Danes eventually won the contest 5-1.

Denmark’s goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is another key player. Son of the famous Manchester United goalkeeper Peter, Kasper has won the Premier League title with club team Leicester City during their memorable season in 2015-16.

Nicklas Bendtner is another player to watch out for. The former Arsenal forward was the most promising player a decade ago. Now with Norway’s Rosenborg, Bendtner has been in good form and hence recalled for the national team.

With Norwegian Age Hareide, 64, as coach, Dane will be hoping the can make the most of this opportunity. In his home country, Hareide won the title once and the Norwegian Cup twice, while in Sweden he won the title with Helsingborgs and Malmo. He added to those accolades in Denmark, where he won the Superliga with Brondby. Hareide was appointed manager of Denmark in December 2015, immediately after the team had lost to Sweden in the play-offs for a place at Euro 2016 in France.

Denmark have qualified for the World Cup finals four times previously, the first of which was in 1986. Captained by Morten Olsen Denmark shocked West Germany, Uruguay, Scotland and shocked Uruguay 6-1.

They, however, crashed out of the round of 16, though after losing to Spain 5-1. The in Denmark qualified was in 1998 and team made it into the knockout stage. The four years later in South Korea and Japan, Denmark made it to the last 16 stage once again before being stopped by England 3-0.