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Great Danes qualify for 2022 World Cup in epic fashion
Christian Wenande
October 13th, 2021
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This article is more than 3 years old.
The Red and Whites seal best ever qualification campaign with eight consecutive wins and clean sheets … and a glutton of goal scorers
Eight wins in eight games, with 27 goals scored and zero goals conceded. Yeah, that’s right. ZERO.
Denmark qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in smashing style following a gritty 1-0 win over Austria in Parken Stadium tonight.
The win gives the Danes an unassailable Group F lead with 24 points, seven points clear of Scotland with two games to go.
Needing a win to keep their own slim qualification hopes alive, Austria defended doggedly until Thomas Delaney set up Joakim Mæhle for the winner early in the second half.
After going ahead, and with an electric crowd at their backs, the Danes saw out the final whistle without any trouble and their sixth World Cup participation was a reality.
READ ALSO: Christian Eriksen to get an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator unit
For Sepp and Christian
It was always going to be an emotional day.
And how fitting was it that legendary Danish Dynamite coach Sepp Pointek was celebrated in the stadium before kickoff after retiring as coach of the Old Boys team last month.
After all, he laid the foundation for it all with his dazzling teams in the ’80s.
And earlier in the day, the Danish team was awarded the Special World Fair Play Trophy for how the team responded to Christian Eriksen’s tragic collapse during Euro 2020 in June.
Considering major tournament participation usually comes down to a final nerve-wracking game for Denmark, the teams road to Qatar has been astonishing.
READ ALSO: Denmark coach rubbishes FIFA’s World Cup plan
In the numbers
They’ve managed to do it with 17 different goal scorers and without their midfield talisman Eriksen.
And how about this for a stat: Kasper Schmeichel has only faced four shots on target so far in eight games.
Denmark already set a new European record for the most World Cup qualification games in a row without conceding when they beat Moldova 4-0 on Saturday.
Romania held the previous record at six from their 1998 campaign. Now the Danes are on eight an are eyeing the Guinness World Record of 12, which Iran set from 2015-2017.
For Denmark to keep their streak going they will need to keep clean sheets in their final two qualification games versus the Faroe Islands (home) and Scotland (away).
Aside from Denmark, the hosts Qatar and Germany are the only two other teams to have already qualified for the 2022 World Cup. Even FIFA is impressed.
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