World Cup – Peru-Denmark

Peru and Denmark face each other in a second match from Group C of the World Cup in Russia. This clash is going to be played at the Mordovia Arena in Saransk. Let’s take a look.

For Peru this is a special moment, because La Blanquirroja reached the World Cup for a first time since 1982. This was a very long wait for the South American team, so it’s completely understandable why they are so excited to be back in action. Led by the Argentine manager and former Boca Juniors player Ricardo Gareca, Peru are a dangerous team everyone shall be careful with.

Denmark missed the last World Cup in Brazil, but now the Scandinavians are also back at the world’s most prestigious football tournament. They had to participate in the playoffs for qualification, but a thrilling performance against Ireland didn’t leave any doubts that they deserve to be here. Cristian Eriksen’s historical hattrick in Dublin is going to be remembered for a very long time by Danish people, that’s for sure.

Since the end of the qualifiers, Peru participated in five friendly games and did very impressive – four wins and one draw. Gareca’s boys celebrated wins against Croatia, Iceland, Scotland and Saudi Arabia, which tells us that they are a serious team with serious intentions at the World Cup. They also made a 0-0 draw against Sweden in their last friendly, which was another positive result against a solid opponent.

Denmark played four official friendlies after the playoff against Ireland. The Danish Dynamite went unbeaten in these matches, beating Panama and Mexico and doing draws against Chile and Sweden. They also suffered a defeat against Jordan, but this was not an official friendly game played under the patronage of FIFA.

The captain Paolo Guerrero, the veteran star Jefferson Farfan and AaB’s midfielder Edison Flores are the players to watch in the Peruvian squad. They were among the main reasons why Peru did so well in the South American qualifiers. They are all experienced players, who will have the task to lead the younger ones in Russia. Edison Flores is an interesting player in this case, because he plays in the Danish league. Let’s see if this is going to help him against Denmark.

There’s a little doubt that Tottenham’s midfielder Cristian Eriksen is the most influental player in Denmark’s squad. How we pointed out, Eriksen scored three goals for the win in Dublin, which qualified the Scandinavians for the World Cup. He’s the maestro of this team and probably Denmark’s best player since the legendary Michael Laudrup. It’s no surprise that clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid have included him in their shortlist of possible signings. Maybe it’s a matter of time before he moves to a bigger club.

This match is tricky for making a prediction. Both sides look very even in terms of overall quality, although Peru do not have a star of Cristian Eriksen’s calibre. It’d be a risky decision to try to pick a winner here.