Denmark secured their place at World Cup 2010 with a 1-0 victory over Sweden on Saturday but that doesn’t mean betting opportunities are over just yet for matches involving Morton Olsen’s side and they face Hungary in Copenhagen on Wednesday.
Neither side has anything left to play for in the Danish capital, with Hungary out of the play off running in Group 1, and while matches of such nature are usually ones to avoid I think we can take a calculated risk.
I watched the Danes get the better of their fierce rivals at Parken, thanks to a late strike from Jakob Poulsen, but they were understandably nervy throughout. The shackles may well come off on Saturday, when they’ve nothing to lose, but Denmark are far from prolific, relying on the cumbersome Nicklas Bendtner for goals, and chances are set to be in short supply once again.
Denmark, in truth, should have been on the receiving end of a beating from Ibrahimovic and company but they defended well throughout, Simon Kjaer, in particular, looks a player with a bright future, and they may well simply go through the motions this time around. Denmark lack creativity and won’t find things easy against a side that has made giant strides during the campaign.
Up until a 3-0 beating at the hands of Portugal on Saturday, Hungary still had their World Cup destiny very much in their own hands but Erwin Koeman’s men came up just short and it simply wasn’t to be.
That was the first time Hungary had conceded more than twice in any of their nine previous matches however and with their Under 20s side reaching the final four of the World Cup, currently taking place in Egypt, the future certainly looks bright.
Like Wednesday’s opponents, Hungary’s success is built from the back and they proved their resilience by grinding out impressive 1-0 wins in Malta and Albania earlier in the campaign. A narrow defeat, by the odd goal in three, in Solna versus Sweden came quickly on the back of a goalless draw against Denmark on the opening night and Hungary will now be eyeing a spot at Euro 2012.
With the next major championships in mind, Hungary will be desperate to finish above the Swedes to boost their Uefa ranking and for that reason alone I’m sure they will be more than competitive on Wednesday. I don’t expect them to trouble Thomas Sorensen on too many occasions, Zoltan Gera’s side have managed just nine goals in as many matches, but a heavy defeat looks out of the question and the unders has to be the play.
I was expecting to see somewhere around the 1.80 mark on offer across the board about there being no more than two goals when the pair clash and while Denmark are quite rightly favourites, a low scoring win, at best, looks on the cards. That makes the 1.95 on Betfair look a shade on the large side and it will certainly do for me on a tricky looking night.
2pts Back Under 2.50 Goals (Denmark vs. Hungary) @ 1.95 (Betfair)