Peru vs Denmark 17/06/18

17 June 2018

At the Mordovia Arena in Saransk, Peru and Denmark will open their Group D campaign, looking for a positive outcome that might be decisive in their pursuit of knockout stage progression. After overtaking Chile on the fifth place of the CONMEBOL qualification, La Blanquirroja comfortably eliminated New Zealand in the inter-confederation play-off by 2-0 on aggregate, thus securing their first World Cup appearance since 1982. Additionally, Peru maintained impressive form even this year, by winning four consecutive international friendlies before drawing 0-0 with Sweden. On the other hand, Denmark also had to fight their way to the final tournament through the play-off, as they had demolished the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, by five goals to one, which was enough to secure them a spot in Russia. However, the Danish Dynamite showed signs of weakness in 2018, especially when it comes to their attacking game, as they had barely scored five goals in six matches this year, two of them in a 3-2 loss to Jordan, back in January.

It will also be the first time in history these two nations go head to head, as they had never met each other, not even in an international friendly.

The two veterans, Paolo Guerrero and Jefferson Farfan, are the most likely candidates to lead Peru’s attack against the Europeans, while Nicolai Jorgensen, Yussuf Poulsen, Pione Sisto, and Christian Eriksen, should represent the main threat to the Peruvian goalkeeper, Pedro Gallese.