Winner takes all in Denmark vs Australia

Australia and Denmark will face off in an all-important match where the equation stands as the winner takes all in their final group stage match at the Al Janoub Stadium in Doha on Wednesday.

When Australia gained three points by beating Tunisia 1-0 On the second matchday of Group D, they moved up to the second place on the points table just behind France, who have already secured their qualification for the knockouts with six points from two wins over Australia and Denmark.

The second spot for the round of 16 remains open for all three teams of group D. If France can avoid defeat against Tunisia, Denmark must win against the Socceroos to qualify. The equation is much easier for Australia in the same case scenario, they’ll just need to avoid defeat. Tunisia, on the other hand, must beat France and hope that the result of the other match goes in their favour to qualify on goal difference with four points.

Australia had been in the same situation in the 2010 World Cup, when they were second in the group with four points with a victory over Serbia and needed only one point in the final group stage match to qualify but failed. They will face the same fate if they fail to win a point tonight.

Denmark have made it out of the group stages in four out of their five appearances in the World Cups, whereas Australia could only once in 2006.

Nathaniel Atkinson missed the win over Tunisia as he picked up an ankle injury in their opening match against France and is a doubt for the Denmark match. Fran Keracic is likely to take his place in the back. Martin Boyle remains a big miss for the Socceroos as he is out for the remainder of the season due to an ACL injury.

Denmark will miss the service of Thomas Delaney as he is out of the tournament with a knee injury he picked up in the Tunisia match. Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand called in Mikkel Damsgaard to replace him which might lead them to change their formation to 3-4-3 from 3-5-2 as the Brentford man comes in the place of a midfielder.

Ahead of the big match, Hjulmand said that the emotions were running high in the Danish team.

“Of course, there is pressure. (But) these players are very, very used to big games and the more experience you have of these kinds of events, from maybe feeling the pressure, you feel pride,” said the 50-year-old.

He said, “It is a World Cup so emotions are very, very high and football is wonderful -- with football you can multiply your feelings by 10, the fear of losing is (also) very, very much involved. How can we best handle that? These considerations you have to make.”

The two sides were drawn in the same group in the 2018 Russia World Cup, where their match ended in a 1-1 draw.