Denmark 0-0 England: Stalemate in Copenhagen

England kept a second consecutive away clean sheet in the group but could not break through a resolute Denmark side.

Match in brief

Denmark had the only two notable chances in the first half. Martin Braithwaite rifled the first just wide before Christian Eriksen slipped in Kasper Dolberg only for Jordan Pickford to deny the striker a breakthrough.

The home side should have taken a late lead but Eriksen blazed over following Yussuf Poulsen's cushioned header across goal. However, England had an even better opening in added time as Harry Kane latched on to a long ball from Kieran Trippier and rounded Kasper Schmeichel only for Mathias Jørgensen to clear off the line.

Christian Eriksen fires a late chance over for DenmarkGetty Images

Reporters' views

Sture Sando, Denmark reporter: Another goalless match for Denmark. Hjulmand would have loved to have seen his team score but, on the other hand, he saw his players provide a disciplined performance against one of the best sides in the world. Keeping England from scoring will always be half a victory – even without Simon Kjær in central defence until late on. It's also worth mentioning the debutant, Christian Nørgaard, who delivered a strong performance as a holding midfielder.

Simon Hart, England reporter: England might have snatched a second straight last-gasp win with Harry Kane's shot cleared off the line yet a draw was a fairer outcome on a largely underwhelming evening in which they lacked a creative spark, failing to test Kasper Schmeichel until the 71st minute. Gareth Southgate used the occasion to trial a new 3-4-3 formation as well as trying out four debutants in Conor Coady, Kalvin Phillips, Jack Grealish and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. As in Iceland there were signs of rust at this early stage of the campaign, though Coady in particular can take heart from the way he fitted comfortably into the centre of England's defence.

Kasper Dolberg went closest in the first half for DenmarkRitzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Reaction

Gareth Southgate, England manager: "I learned a lot. We tried a new system, which we will get better at. We wanted to start with stability. We could've probably been a bit higher in terms of our attacking threat in the first half but we were in control and that's unsurprising given where the players are at."

Conor Coady, England defender: "It's a dream come true [to play for England]. It's incredible to play with this group of players. There are world class players in this group – don't let anybody tell you otherwise. I'm here to help these players and the team, we're all here to improve the team. We've done alright but we wanted to come away with the win."

Christian Eriksen, Denmark midfielder: "It's the second game we've played under the new coach and we haven't scored yet. It's something we want to build on and change.We want to score in every game but we know we've played against two very difficult countries with very strong teams, so I think we did well today. We played a bit better than we did on Saturday."

Mathias Jørgensen, Denmark defender: "I think we did relatively well in keeping them from creating chances, and at the same time, we created fine chances. Of course, I'm biased, but I think we were closest to winning."

Key stats

• Denmark have lost just twice in their last 37 games.
• Denmark have only conceded five goals in their last 16 home games.
• England have only lost one of their last 26 competitive away games (W17). The Three Lions have kept a clean sheet in 17 of those matches.
• This was only the second time England have failed to score in their last 15 matches.
  

Line-ups

Denmark: Schmeichel; Wass, Jørgensen, Andreas Christensen, Skov; Nørgaard (Højbjerg 73), Eriksen, Delaney; Poulsen, Dolberg (Falk 76), Braithwaite (Kjær 82)

England: Pickford; Alexander-Arnold (Maitland-Niles 86), Gomez, Coady, Dier, Trippier; Rice, Phillips (Grealish 76); Sancho (Mount 60), Kane, Sterling

Next up

Group A2 continues next month, with England vs Belgium and Iceland vs Denmark on Sunday 11 October.