Tuesday, October 12, 2021 at 11:01 PM

On Tuesday evening, Denmark qualified as the third country after Qatar and Germany for the 2022 World Cup. The team of national coach Kasper Hjulmand managed to beat Austria 1-0 in a match without too many highlights and can therefore no longer be overtaken by the number two in Group B, Scotland. At the same time, Sweden took a big step towards World Cup participation by beating John van ‘t Schip’s Greece 2-0. With that victory, Sweden takes the lead in Group B from Spain, with fifteen against thirteen points from six matches. Greece has nine points after six games and sees the chance of World Cup participation slowly but surely dwindling.

Denmark – Austria 1-0
The assignment for the Danes was clear: a win meant group win and direct qualification for the World Cup. Denmark started the game against the Austrians with a goal difference of no less than 26 against 0, but it took after an unexciting first half until the 52nd minute before the score was finally broken open. Thomas Delaney advanced to the edge of the box, managed to keep an overview and handed the ball over to Joakim Maehle who had come along. He put goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann on the wrong foot and printed the ball in the short corner: 1-0. It marked his fifth goal in his last nine international matches. The victory was no longer in danger in the remainder of the second half. Just like in the first half, the game image remained slightly in favor of Denmark, but there were no great opportunities and the Danes can prepare for the final round in Qatar.

Sweden v Greece 2-0
It was the Greeks – with AZ’ers Vangelis Pavlidis and Pantelis Hatzidiako in the starting eleven – who had the better of the game in the first half. After four minutes the ball was already in the net, only the responsible Georgios Masouras was called back for offside. However, John van ‘t Schip’s team kept pushing. With Masouras as the main scourge for the Swedish defense, they came closest via Pavlidis, who headed into the crossbar after a corner from the same Masouras, but after 45 minutes the score was still 0-0.

However, it was the Swedes who were most eager to get out of the starting blocks after the break. Shortly after their first real chance via Robin Quaison, Isak broke through in the sixteen-meter area, after which the Real Sociedad striker through Konstantinos Mavropanos. Emil Forsberg took his place behind the ball and controlled the ball into the left corner. The Swedes finally smelled blood and went on the hunt for a follow-up goal, which came via Isak in the 69th minute. Goalkeeper Robin Olsen’s kick came exactly into his course, after which he tapped the ball past Odisseas Vlachodimos and pushed it into the far corner. In the final phase, Hatzidiakos received his second yellow card, as a result of which Greece ended the game with ten men.