France and Denmark meet today at the Luzhniki Stadium in the final round of fixtures in Group C. With two wins from as many matches, France have already qualified for the Round of 16 but would want to either win or draw the match against Denmark so that they can finish top of the table. Denmark's situation is more complicated and they must either beat France or draw with them. However, they can still qualify even if they lose although Peru must either beat or draw with Australia in the other Group C match.
Confirmed line-ups:
Denmark (3-4-3): Kasper Schmeichel; Henrik Dalsgaard, Simon Kjaer, Andreas Christensen; Thomas Delaney, Christian Eriksen, Stryger Larsen, Henrik Dalsgaard; Martin Braithwaite, Andreas Cornelius, Pione Sisto
Substitutes: Nicolai Jorgensen, Michael Krohn-Dehli, Lasse Schone, Jonas Knudsen, Jonas Lossl, Jannik Vestergaard, Viktor Fischer, Frederik Ronnow, Lukas Lerager, Kasper Dolberg
France (4-2-3-1): Steve Mandanda; Presnel Kimpembe, Raphael Varane, Lucas Hernández, Djibril Sidibe; N'Golo Kante, Steven N'Zonzi; Thomas Lemar, Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembele; Olivier Giroud
Substitutes: Hugo Lloris, Blaise Matuidi, Adil Rami, Paul Pogba, Alphonse Areola, Samuel Umtiti, Florian Thauvin, Benjamin Mendy, Nabil Fekir, Corentin Tolisso, Benjamin Pavard, Kylian Mbappe
TEAM NEWS // DENFRA
— FIFA World Cup (FIFAWorldCup) June 26 2018
Thoughts on the selection? WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Til1gIraiY
France National Team. (Photo: @equipedefrance Twitter)
Match Preview: Both Denmark and France have been underwhelming in their performances despite the fact that the two teams have faced much-lower ranked teams in the tournament.
France do have six points from two matches but they have just managed the wins despite failing to perform at the level a team of their talent should be performing. In the first match against Australia, France got a penalty and a deflected goal to see off Australians in a 2-1 win. Their second game wasn't a class either with Kylian Mbappe scored the lone goal of the match. The French squad for has been assessed as the most valuable in the tournament. But their performances haven't reflected that.
Denmark (Photo: Reuters)
Denmark aren't doing any better either. They do sit second in the points table but they could score only one goal vs Peru who missed a penalty in the first half. In their second match, they could only manage a draw against a resilient Australia. Christian Eriksen scored a fantastic half-volley in the match but that was about it as far as good things are concerned from Denmark's point of view.
Denmark coach Age Hareide has said his critical remarks of France were "taken out of context". Hareide gave a withering assessment of France in the run-up to the tournament, claiming they were "nothing special" and that they lacked a "leader such as Zinedine Zidane".
"First of all these were things taken out of context," Hareide said in Moscow on Monday. "If you'd read the whole article you would have seen I was comparing with the '98 team..the best version of France we have ever seen," he said.
Trivia:
-- Presnel Kimpembe is only the fourth French player to get his first start with France in a World Cup at the 21st century. (Source: OptaJoe)
Players to watch out for:
France: Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann
Denmark:Christian Eriksen
Key stats:
-- Denmark and France have met twice in the World Cup, both in the final of game of the group stages -- France won 2-1 in 1998 and Denmark won 2-0 in 2002.
-- Denmark and France are meeting at a sixth major tournament after Euro 1984, Euro 1992, World Cup 1998, Euro 2000 and World Cup 2002. France went on to win three of those five previous tournaments.
-- Denmark haven't lost a single match in any of the competition since October 2016.
-- Christian Eriksen has been directly involved in 18 goals in his last 15 appearances for Denmark (13 goals, 5 assists).
France vs Denmark: When and where to watch for free
Time: 7:30 PM (IST)
In today's Group C match, France vs Denmark match will take place in Lazhniki Stadium on Tuesday, June 26, 2018, at 07:30 PM (IST).
France vs Denmark match will be broadcast on Sony Ten 2, Sony Ten 2 HD, Sony ESPN, Sony ESPN HD in English Commentary and Sony Ten 3 and Sony 3 HD in Hindi Commentary.
France vs Denmark match will be available for live streaming on Sony Liv also. And Both Airtel and Jio would broadcast matches for free to their respective subscribers
Denmark Expected playing 11
Kasper Schmeichel; Henrik Dalsgaard, Simon Kjaer, Andreas Christensen, Jens Stryger-Larsen; Lasse Schone, Thomas Delaney; Martin Braithwaite, Christian Eriksen, Pione Sisto; Nicolai Jorgensen
France Expected playing 11
Steve Mandana; Djibril Sidibe, Raphael Varane (C), Samuel Umtiti; Benjamin Mendy; Steven N'Zonzi, Corentin Tolisso; Thomas Lemar, Nabil Fekir, Antoine Griezmann; Olivier Giroud