League of Nations, Group A4. 6th round
Leskovac, Dubočica
Serbia – Denmark 0:0
Serbia and Denmark in the final round of the A4 quartet competed for the last spot in the playoffs. The first for both within the League of Nations. The Slavs needed a home victory, while the Scandinavians needed a draw. The guests, as expected, came out to play to hold on, but their head coach’s starting plan raised a bunch of questions.
For his second game at the helm of the “scarlet guard”, Brian Riemer used a completely unobvious hybrid of 4-3-3 and 4-4-2. With Jusi Poulsen as a winger/wide targetman and Damsgaard as a left-sided eight. At the same time, Mikkel went to the left edge in attack instead of Poulsen, who went into the penalty area.
Dolberg replaced Hejlund at the forefront. But the two main doubts were the following: Eriksen’s role as one of the midfielders without the ball (not an obvious option for the opponent, although it should be noted that Hojbjerg was unavailable).
The second question is why it was necessary to leave Mitrovic and Vlahovic 1 on 1 against the center backs. The Serbs scored only 3 goals in 5 rounds. But the duo remained silent because the delivery of the ball was poor and they were held tightly. In the same conditions as today, they began to manifest themselves and create a threat.
The Eagles came out with a classic scheme and combinations of players. 3-5-2 with active play on the flanks. The laterals Terzic and Zivkovic constantly overloaded the 5v4 defense. Either a situation was created for a cross (especially when Mitrovic also came to the edge), then one of the laterals on the far side found themselves without a direct guard.
The Danes had a lot of problems in the first half. The Serbs, as expected, tensed up with crosses and set pieces. But the hosts also periodically managed to escape into sharp counterattacks due to Vlahovic’s breakthroughs. In the debut, the Juventus forward, after a pass from Samardzic, ran along the right edge and shot dangerously into the far corner from under Vestergaard. About 10 minutes later, Vlahovic again opened up into the channel between LZ and LZZ and this time crossed dangerously towards Mitrovic.
Dusan had another chance after Petrovic was cleared from his own half. Mitrovic won the second floor against Nelsson, Vlaho threw past the second CB Vestergaard and ran 1 on 1. Julmand provided backup in time, together with Schmeichel, preventing the goal. But there were also Pavlovich’s headers after several corners and Zivkovic’s most dangerous moment in the 7th minute. Left lateral Terzic found him with a cross at the far post, and the right wingback shot at Schmeichel from 6 meters away.
After 16:3 in shots and the hosts had 60% possession, Brian Riemer made no personnel adjustments in the second half. Denmark finally established adequate ball control in the opening of the second half. Plus the misfortune helped. Due to an injury, Poulsen left the field, and prop Norgaard appeared in his place. This freed up Eriksen in the midfield and finally brought speed on both flanks. There was little sharpness from the guests, but they managed to use possession as a defensive tool.
The Danes calmed the game down, but the Serbs still threatened Schmeichel’s goal from time to time. 15 minutes before the end, Mitrovic made a dangerous header after Zivkovic’s cross. Vlahovic had half a chance after a 2v2 counterattack (again, both fullbacks left the CB to be torn to pieces).
But the Eagles were predictable in attack, played at a low tempo and had no reserves to put the pressure on (there were no Jovic, Milinkovic-Savic, Kostic and Ilic). Therefore, Denmark, not without problems, nevertheless brought the game to the result they needed. Zeros on “Dubochitsa” in favor of the guests.
Serbia: Petrovic – Veljkovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic – Zivkovic (Ivanovic, 82), Maksimovic, Gudel (Zdelar, 72), Terzic – Samardzic (Maksimovich, 73) – Mitrovic, Vlahovic (Nedeljkovic, 88)
Denmark: Schmeichel – Roerslev, Vestergaard, Nelsson, Christiansen – Eriksen, Jylmand, Damsgaard (Grönbeck 70) – Isaksen (Olsen 87), Poulsen (Nergaard 53) – Dolberg (Hejlund 70)
Removal: Pavlovich 90+4 (second residential complex)
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