Denmark beat Greece 3-1 at home on Sunday to keep their unbeaten World Cup qualification campaign on track and end the visitors’ hopes of reaching next year’s tournament, with the battle for Group C supremacy set to go down to the wire.
With two matches still to play, Denmark top the standings with 10 points, ahead of Scotland on goal difference. The two sides meet in their final fixture next month with the group winners earning automatic qualification for the tournament finals and the runners-up going into the playoffs.
Both the Danes and Scotland are guaranteed at least a playoff spot but Greece, who sit third with three points, have no hope of progressing.
“Overall, I don’t think we played our best game today,” Denmark midfielder Morten Hjulmand said.
“(The win is) the most important thing. It’s the three points. Sometimes you don’t reach the top level. I don’t think we did that today, but we won 3-1 against a strong team.”
Greece controlled possession early in the game, but in the 21st minute Rasmus Hojlund capitalised on a glaring mistake by Greek midfielder Christos Zafeiris, who tried to pass back to his goalkeeper but left the ball short, allowing the Napoli striker to score with a tap-in.
Joachim Andersen doubled their lead, heading in a Mikkel Damsgaard corner in the 40th minute, and one minute later, another defensive error by Greece let Damsgaard finish into an empty net with a first-time strike.
Denmark took their foot off the gas after the break and Greece pulled one back in the 63rd minute as Christos Tzolis fired a powerful shot over goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel on a counter-attack, the first goal Denmark had conceded in their qualifying campaign.
Despite coming close to a second, the Greeks were unable to break down the hosts’ defence, with Schmeichel making a brilliant save to deny substitute Giannis Konstantelias before Andersen cleared Pavlidis’ effort off the line.
-REUTERS
