Perfect Denmark eliminate France
Monday, May 9, 2011
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Denmark 1-0 France
The Group A winners march into the semi-finals with their 100% record intact, meaning France finish third and miss out on the semi-finals.
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Denmark, already guaranteed Group A winners at kick-off, head into their semi-final against Germany with a 100% record under their belts following a 1-0 win against France.
Les Mini-Bleus knew victory against Thomas Frank's team would ensure a semi-final against the Netherlands, but they were ultimately undone by Christian Nørgaard's second-half strike. England, who beat Serbia 3-0, therefore finish second, meaning France must settle for the consolation of a FIFA U-17 World Cup berth.
Despite the final score, a much-changed Denmark side were a long way short of the high bar they had set in their opening two fixtures. With Abdallah Yaisien pulling the strings, France were swift to capitalise, Gaëtan Laborde first to test Christian Schultz with a low drive.
Pouncing on Lenny Nangis's parried effort, Laborde turned over when presented with the chance to work Schultz once more soon after. Sébastien Haller subsequently did far better with an infinitely more difficult opportunity, adjusting his body superbly to acrobatically turn Jordan Ikoko's cross goalwards, only for Schultz to block.
Yaisien's delightfully flighted free-kick, and another moment of impressive Haller improvisation, may have prompted Schultz's heart to skip a beat, but both sailed narrowly wide. By contrast, France's Lionel Mpasi Nzau's first half was plain sailing until the closing stages, Yussuf Poulsen denied when clean through.
Viktor Fischer's half-time introduction seemingly did little to stem the tide. Indeed, it was his opposing No10, Yaisien, who continued to run the show. Three times he went close within 15 minutes of the interval, the first two occasions coming as a result of a blink-and-you-will-miss-it change of feet.
Fischer did start to have his say in an advanced midfield role, but it was another replacement who had the most decisive impact, Nørgaard slaloming through the France defence before slotting past Nzau on 65 minutes. Fellow substitute Kenneth Zohore also went close as Denmark closed out the game with relative ease.
