Russia

The Russian national team started the tournament quite poorly and was defeated by the group leader, Belgium, with a crushing score of 3-0. Throughout the match against Belgium, the Russian team only managed to shoot at the goal 5 times, with just one shot on target. In comparison, the Danish team shot at the goal 22 times in their match against Belgium, with 6 shots on target. One can debate whether it was the tension of the first match against the world's number 1 ranked team or just poor preparation, but the fact remains – Russia will need at least a draw in the match against Denmark to stay in the tournament.

A bit more positivity was seen in the team's game against Finland: the Russian team played more aggressively, attacked the opponent's goal 14 times, and scored a beautiful goal after a great combination. However, the Russian defense raised questions – the Finnish team also had plenty of opportunities to score and even had a goal disallowed due to a minimal offside after a VAR decision. The team lacks confidence, and against a fired-up Danish team, for whom a win in this match is essential, the Russian team will need to find the right solutions both in defense and attack.

Denmark

The Danish national team lost to the group leader, Belgium, after an impressive fight (1-2). Although the team currently has no points, the first match against Finland can be attributed to the shock experienced due to the loss of the team's leader, Ch. Eriksen. After such an experience, which the team had to endure and continue the match just a couple of hours later, it is clear that the Danes did not feel comfortable in the continuation of the match against Finland, and all thoughts were about Eriksen.

Just a few days later, when the Danes faced Belgium, we saw a completely different Danish team – from the first minute, the team aggressively pressed Belgium's goal and scored the first goal of the match in just the 2nd minute. In the first 10 minutes, the Danes shot at the goal several times, with 3 shots on target. Indeed, the Danish team caught Belgium unprepared and could have scored at least one more goal in the first half, but failed to capitalize on the opportunities created.

The fact is that it is almost impossible to hold off such a strong team as Belgium for the entire match, so after impressive episodes by K. De Bruyne, Belgium managed to pull off a 2-1 victory. Nevertheless, the Danish team demonstrated that they will not leave the tournament without a fight, and if they show similar play in the match against Russia, we might see a confident Danish victory.

Predicted team line-ups:

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Russia:
Safonov, Barinov, Diveev, Dzhikiya, Karavaev, Ozdoev, Zobnin, Golovin, Kuzyaev, Miranchuk, Dzyuba;

Denmark:
Schmeichel, Wass, Kjaer, Christensen, Maehle, Delaney, Hojbjerg, Jensen; Braithwaite, Wind, Poulsen.

Prediction

Predicting that the Belgian team will defeat the Finns, the Danes would need to beat the Russian team by at least a 2-goal margin to aim for 2nd place in the group. If they fail to do so, Denmark would still have a chance to advance to the next stage by finishing 3rd, but the fact is that the Danes will aim to settle matters in this match and take the second place in the group. Denmark looked more confident than Russia, and despite the loss to Belgium, they are the clear favorites in this match.