Moldova vs Denmark

High-flying Denmark travel to the Stadionul Zimbru to take on out-of-sorts Moldova in what should be another day in the office for the Euro 2020 semi-finalists.

Moldova’s 2-1 loss to the Faroe Islands in their most recent World Cup qualification outing means they’re staring at the prospect of finishing bottom of Group F (D1, L5) and marking their second consecutive winless World Cup qualification campaign. Moldova’s disastrous showings over the past two-and-a-half years, which include one win from 24 internationals (D3, L20), have seen them tumble down FIFA’s rankings, hitting their all-time low (#180th). A return of one win from their last ten matches on home soil (D3, L6) suggests the Moldovans will look for damage control here as they host a rampant Denmark side they lost to 8-0 in the reverse fixture in March. They can take some comfort from their improving defensive displays of late, as they’ve conceded under 2.5 goals in five of their last six home internationals.

On the other hand, Denmark ran riot in their World Cup qualifying fixtures in September, winning all three by an aggregate scoreline of 8-0 to move seven points clear at the top of Group F. Runaway Group F leaders are on the brink of reaching their third straight major tournament, having made the Euro 2020 semi-finals this summer after exiting the 2018 World Cup in the Round of 16. With their lone defeat across their last 17 international matches on foreign soil coming at the hands of FIFA’s top-ranked nation Belgium in November 2019 (W9, D7 – 90mins only), the Danes must be confident of winning their first-ever visit to Chișinău. Excluding their Euro 2020 participation, Kasper Hjulmand’s men have kept a clean sheet in each of their last three competitive away matches (W3).