Denmark vs Tunisia

Denmark vs Tunisia is the second match of the day on day 2 of the 2022 World Cup and takes place at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar – A 43,350 capacity venue that was purposely built for the tournament.

Denmark are potentially a team to watch at this year’s World Cup and I think that they should have enough to get out of their group despite being drawn alongside France.

Group D consists of France, Denmark, Tunisia and Australia. You’d fully expect France to reach the knockout stages with ease and Denmark should be the best of the rest. However, Tunisia shouldn’t be written off.

Denmark reached the semi-finals of Euro 2020, only being denied a place in the final by a 2-1 defeat to England. They played extremely well in that competition, especially given that they were without their key player Christian Eriksen who collapsed during their opening match against Finland and was left in a critical condition. Thankfully, Eriksen made a full recovery and it now playing in the Premier League for Brentford. He’ll feature for Denmark in this year’s tournament and will be eager to play a part in helping his side progress.

This will be the sixth time Tunisia have qualified for the World Cup finals but their record in the tournament hasn’t been the best. They’ve failed to make it out of the group stages on all occasions and won just two of their 15 games played – a 3-1 win against Mexico in 1978 and a 2-1 victory against Panama at Russia 2018. However, they did manage to find the net in all three of their games at the last World Cup including scoring against England and putting two past Belgium.

Denmark are an organised team and I’d be surprised if they didn’t manage to win their opening game. With France being the clear favourites to win the group, Denmark really can’t afford to be dropping points against Tunisia and Australia if they are to progress. They’re 11/18 for the win which I think would make a great addition to an acca and possibly good enough for a single.

From their ten World Cup qualification matches, Denmark won nine of them and eight of those victories were won to nil. Despite Tunisia’s goal scoring record at the World Cup, they have struggled for goals recently and have failed to score more than once in in eight of their last nine games with the vast majority of those matches being against somewhat poor opponents.

Denmark to win to nil appeals to me and is priced at 13/10 with Betfred.

I also fancy Denmark -1 at odds of 9/5 with Betfair and Paddy as they certainly aren’t short of goals and will want to make sure that they win this opening match to set themselves up for a much tougher game against France on Saturday.

I’ve backed Denmark to win this game and I think they’ll do so with a scoreline of 2-0. They’re tight at the back and are going to be a tough opponent for whoever they come up against throughout the tournament. I’m tempted to go with 3-0 at higher odds of 12/1 and the World Cup certainly hasn’t been short of goals so far. However, I’ll stick with my more conservative tip of 2-0 at 6/1.

If I was to place a bet on both teams to score, it would be on No. However, I don’t think there’s much value in this market for this game and so I won’t be backing it on this occassion.

Club Brugge winger Andreas Skov Olsen bagged two goals in Denmark’s Nations League campaign and another five throughout the World Cup qualifying stage. The 22-year-old is a real threat in front of goal and he would be my pick to get on the scoresheet first in this game at odds of 13/2.

This is a betting market that I’d leave for this game. Denmark/Denmark would be my pick if I was forcing a bet but I don’t see the value in the odds that are available.

Neither sides are particularly known for receiving many cards and I’m not expecting that to change at the World Cup. Under 3.5 cards would be my selection in this market.

Denmark vs Tunisia Lineup

Denmark Lineup

Schmeichel K. (G) / Andersen J. / Christensen A. / Delaney T. / Dolberg K. / Eriksen C. / Hojbjerg P. / Kjaer S. / Kristensen R. / Maehle J. / Skov Olsen A.

Tunisia Lineup

Dahmen A. (G) / Abdi A. / Bronn D. / Drager M. / Jebali I. / Laidouni A. / Meriah Y. / Msakni Y. / Skhiri E. / Slimane A. / Talbi M.

Denmark World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers: Kasper Schmeichel (Nice), Oliver Christensen (Hertha Berlin), Frederik Ronnow (Union Berlin).

Defenders: Simon Kjaer (AC Milan), Joachim Andersen (Crystal Palace), Joakim Maehle (Atalanta), Andreas Christensen (Barcelona), Rasmus Kristensen (Leeds United), Jens Stryger Larsen (Trabzonspor), Victor Nelsson (Galatasaray), Daniel Wass (Brondby), Alexander Bah (Benfica)

Midfielders: Thomas Delaney (Sevilla), Mathias Jensen (Brentford), Christian Eriksen (Manchester United), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Tottenham), Robert Skov (Hoffenheim), Christian Norgaard (Brentford).

Forwards: Andreas Skov Olsen (Club Bruges), Jesper Lindstrom (Eintracht Frankfurt), Andreas Cornelius (Copenhagen), Martin Braithwaite (Espanyol), Kasper Dolberg (Sevilla), Mikkel Damsgaard (Brentford), Jonas Wind (VfL Wolfsburg), Yussuf Poulsen (RB Leipzig)

Tunisia World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers: Aymen Dahmen (CS Sfaxien), Bechir Ben Said (US Monastir), Mouez Hassen (Club Africain), Aymen Mathlouthi (Etoile Sahel).

Defenders: Ali Abdi (Caen), Dylan Bronn (Salernitana), Mohamed Drager (FC Luzern), Nader Ghandri (Club Africain), Bilel Ifa (Kuwait SC), Wajdi Kechrida (Atromitos), Ali Maaloul (Al Ahly), Yassine Meriah (Esperance), Montassar Talbi (Lorient).

Midfielders: Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane (Esperance), Ghaylane Chaalali (Esperance), Aissa Laidouni (Ferencvaros), Hannibal Mejbri (Birmingham City), Ferjani Sassi (Al Duhail), Elyas Skhiri (FC Cologne).

Forwards: Anis Ben Slimane (Brondby), Seifeddine Jaziri (Zamalek), Issam Jebali (Odense), Wahbi Khazri (Montpellier), Taha Yassine Khenissi (Kuwait SC), Youssef Msakni (Al Arabi), Naim Sliti (Al Ittifaq).