Today at 18:00, a team that hasn’t felt a World Cup atmosphere in 36 years will take the pitch at the Mordovia Arena in Saransk. That’s Peru, the South American team that’s unbeaten in 15 games (10 wins and 5 draws) across all competitions. Four of the last five were against European sides and resulted in 3 wins and 1 draw, a good sign considering the Peruvians face Denmark in their World Cup opener. The Danes joined the 31 World Cup teams after beating Ireland in UEFA’s qualification playoff matches. Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen was the hero with a hat-trick in the return leg in Dublin that finished 5-1.
Jefferson Farfan, Paolo Guerrero, Andre Carrillo and a bunch of workaholics compose this resilient Peru squad led by Argentinian coach Ricardo Gareca. Guerrero is the team’s leader, which is why it was so important for him to be reinstated. His year-long ban for substance abuse reached Switzerland’s Supreme Court, that decided to revoke the it, reuniting the former Bayern striker with his teammates and gifting him the opportunity to experience his first World Cup.
Christian Eriksen is Denmark’s alfa and omega. He’s the team’s free-kick taker, corner-kick taker, penalty-kick taker, captain and irreplaceable member. All the channels run through him, so if Peru is going to have any shot of getting a positive result against Åge Hareide’s men, its players will have to contain the Spur. Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichel, Chelsea’s Andreas Christensen and Feyenoord’s Nicolai Jorgensen are some of the other players in the Danish squad that can make a difference.
The South Americans will be fired up coming into this game, so emotions will be running high. The cold Scandinavian nature will keep Denmark under control in the opening minutes, after which the match will calm down and fall into monotony. I don’t expect to see many goals, neither do I anticipate there to be a winner when the final whistle blows.
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