Expectations, tactics, armbands: Denmark’s Qatar postmortem begins

01-Dec-2022 07:30:40 | Guardian

Inspired last year to honour Christian Eriksen, the Euro 2020 semi-finalists now seemed affected by Fifa’s threats

Was it the expectations? Was it the armbands? Was it the tinkering? Or did Denmark just not have what it took to progress as expected at this World Cup? The postmortem can now begin for the team ranked 10th in the world, because Kasper Hjulmand’s men are going home.

Their second defeat was in keeping with all but brief periods of their two other matches in Qatar: insipid. A team that had stormed their way to the semi-finals of the European Championship last year, and romped through qualification, didn’t look as if they had the belief to win a game against Australia.