Chances spurned as Danes come up short in Romania

Goalless draw in Cluj puts Denmark’s back against the World Cup wall

Mar 27, 2017

It was a game of misses for Denmark in their goalless World Cup qualifier against Romania in Cluj last night.

Both teams squandered absolute sitters as they missed out on a vital three points and the opportunity to slip past Montenegro into second place in Group E.

Romania enjoyed the majority of the possession for much of the first half, and they should have scored at least once through Claudiu Keseru, who somehow managed to blast wide from four yards out.

Christian Eriksen should have then scored for Denmark just before half-time, but blasted over from close-range.

In the second half, Denmark dominated proceedings and could have scored twice through sub defender Mathias Zanka Jørgensen, who first shot wide during a moment of goal-box mayhem, before blasting over from close-range minutes later.

Challenges remain
The point means Denmark remain third, now six points behind leaders Poland, who beat second-placed Montenegro 2-1 away last night. Montenegro remain second on seven points – the same as Denmark, while Romania and Armenia both have six points.

For Denmark, qualification is looking increasingly tough. Not only do they look like they will be battling for second place and a playoff, but currently Montenegro are the worst second-placed team in qualifying – and only the best eight second-placed teams qualify for the playoffs from the nine groups.

Up next for the Danes on June 10 is another away match, this time against bottom side Kazakhstan. That may sound comforting, but Denmark haven’t won an away game since November 2014 when they beat Serbia 3-1 in Belgrade.

Denmark finish their Group E qualifying on a difficult autumn run, hosting Poland in September, visiting Armenia and Montenegro, before finishing off their campaign at home against Romania in October.