Dull draw enough for Danes and France
Peru finish third as sorry Socceroos end World Cup party with a point.
France advanced to the round of 16 from Group C as leaders after a dull 0-0 draw with Denmark at the Luzhniki Stadium.
With poor Socceroos of Australia beaten 2-0 by Peru in Sochi, the gloss evaporated inside Luzhniki as France with six changes failed to raise the roof covering a sold out crowd of 78,011 in Moscow.
France will now meet whoever finishes second in Group D that has Croatia, Nigeria, Argentina and Iceland.
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Peru opened their account in the 19th minute via André Carrillo, the first goal at the World Cup goal since Guillermo la Rosa in 1982. Paolo Guerrero who nearly missed the tournament capped a fine day for Peru by netting their second as the Socceroos capitulated.
The result means Australia finish bottom of the group despite a promising performance on day one which needed Video Assistant Referee to break their resolve in that 2-1 defeat to France.
In Luzhniki, though, France and Denmark strolled to a barren, the first without a goal at this tournament.
Didier Deschamps’ France went on the offensive in the 24th minute with Barcelona winger Osmane Dembele turning his man inside out before attempting a cross, which appeared to come off Mathias Jorgensen’s hand, but the referee would have none of it even as the French protested.
Denmark launched a serious attack on the French when in the 32nd minute, Andreas Cornelius hared down the left channel before laying a sumptuous ball to onrushing Christian Eriksen who looked ready to chip Steve Mandanda.
The Tottenham man was however, beaten to the ball by Atletico Madrid’s Lucas Hernandez.
Eriksen’s half-hearted appeal for a penalty was waved away by Brazilian referee Sandro Ricci as the Dane felt the joint tackle by mandanda and Hernandez took him down.
With news from that Peru had taken the lead, their first goal at this tournament – definitely good news for Denmark, the urgency for a goal appeared to wane.
It was not until the 44th minute that Antoine Griezmann slipped behind the Dane’s defence to bring down the ball before teeing up Olivier Giroud who blasted over.
Giroud’s saving grace though was that the assistant referee’s flag had gone up for an offside.
With results in Sochi favouring Denmark, the second half descended into a sparring encounter with neither side seriously testing the other.
Line Ups
Denmark
1 -K. Schmeichel, 4 -S. Kjær, 13-M. Jørgensen 14-H. Dalsgaard, 17-J. Larsen, 6 -A. Christensen, 8 -T. Delaney (18 L. Lerager 90+2), 10 - C. Eriksen, 11 -M. Braithwaite, 21-A. Cornelius (12 K. Dolberg 75’), 23 -P. Sisto (15 V. Fischer 60’)
Coach: Å. Hareide
Unused Subs
2-M. Krohn-Dehli, 3-J. Vestergaard, 5-J. Knudsen, 9-N. Jørgensen, 16-J. Lössl, 19-L. Schöne, 22-F. Rønnow, 7-W. Kvist
France
16 -S. Mandanda, 19 -D. Sidibé, 4-R. Varane, 3 -P. Kimpembe, 21 -L. Hernández (22 B. Mendy 50’)
15 -S. N'Zonzi, 8 -T. Lemar, 13-N. Kanté, 9-O. Giroud, 7-A. Griezmann (18 N. Fekir 68’), 11 -O. Dembélé (10 K. Mbappé 76’)
Coach: D. Deschamps
Unused subs
1 H. Lloris, 2 B. Pavard, 5 S. Umtiti, 6 P. Pogba, 12 C. Tolisso, 14 B. Matuidi, 17 A. Rami, 20 F. Thauvin, 23 A. Areola
