The national teams of Denmark and Ireland will play against each other on the upcoming Saturday within the first play-off match for the right to play in the final part of the World Cup. The Danes are considered the obvious favorites of the encounter, the noticeably progressed during the whole WC 2018 qualifying tournament and in the end managed to achieve the second position in the qualifying group E.
The Denmark national team started the WC qualifying tournament with a domestic victory over Armenia and after that, the Jutlanders lost to the Poles and the Montenegrins, but in the last seven games the future hosts didn’t lose a single time, even managing to defeat the national team of Poland at their home ground with the score of 4:0. As a result, the Danes couldn’t reach the Poles, losing five points to the White Eagles but in their turn overtook the Montenegrins by two points.
The Irish team managed to defeat the national team of Wales away with the score of 0:1 in the last round of the qualification. The victory cost the Dragons the second place in the group D. The Irish eventually gained two points more, than the Welsh, but two points less, than the Serbs, who are already buying tickets to Russia. On average, 1.8 goals were scored in the matches of the Irish squad, therefore one might say, that the future guests are a defensive team.
The first play-off matches not that often end efficiently, the risks are too high, teams try to play extremely carefully at their own goals. The upcoming match will probably be alike, the Danes will be more active, whereas trying to maximally secure their goal from penetration.
Prediction for the match: Under 2.5 goals in the match
