Switzerland vs Denmark
Switzerland and Denmark meet at the St. Jakob-Park on Tuesday night, in a fascinating encounter of the two Euro 2020 Group D favourites.
This is Denmark’s opening fixture, while Switzerland are already up and running in the competition. Group D is a testing group, with Georgia and the Republic of Ireland also vying for qualification. Only tiny Gibraltar can be discounted.
Euro 2020 betting odds won’t feature either of these teams heavily in the eventual winners market; not yet, anyway. But they have both performed consistently well for a few years now, and neither is considered an easy opponent by any other team in the world.
Talking Points
Swiss and Danes are among the world’s best
Sitting in lofty positions of eighth and tenth in the FIFA World Rankings, Switzerland and Denmark have been frequently underestimated in world football until recently, which has eased their climb up the rankings. Both have been devilishly difficult to beat.
Vladimir Petkovic’s Switzerland started their Euro 2020 campaign in convincing form with a 0-2 away win to Georgia, never an easy place to go to. But they had an even more impressive result in the UEFA Nations League, hammering World Number One team Belgium, 5-2. The Swiss aren’t known for their goal-getting, more so their organisation excellence and tight defence, which made this victory even more impressive.
Goalkeeper Yann Sommer caught the eye at Russia 2018, and they have an experienced and calm head in Captain Stephan Lichsteiner. The cultured defender is currently at Serie A runaway leaders Juventus.
Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka is a dominant presence in the middle of the park as an uncompromising player. He picked up a booking in the opener against Georgia, but he also has a fierce long-range shot on him.
Up front, Stuttgart’s Steve Zuber will be a constant threat. But Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaqiri will be a big miss. The fleet-of-foot attacker has pulled out of the squad with a groin strain. Jurgen Klopp will want his star fit for a potentially nail-biting Premier League title run-in.
World-Class Eriksen
Denmark are not short of talent itself, but one player has stood out over the past few years. That man is Spurs’ creative midfielder, Christian Eriksen. Mauricio Pochettino arguably has some bigger names in his first eleven, but none are as consistently influential as the Dane. He was only on the pitch for three minutes in Kosovo at the weekend before scoring a 63rd-minute penalty. Midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg popped up with an injury-time equaliser for Denmark.
Age Hareide has other good players in his armoury, the son of Denmark’s best-ever goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel is no slouch in goal. Kasper has kept goal for Leicester City in the Premier League since the Foxes’ stunning Premier League success in 2016.
Jacob Bruun Larsen is having a good season for Borussia Dortmund as is his club teammate Thomas Delaney, while Andreas Christensen has made a decent start to his career at Chelsea.
With plenty of talent on show, this will be one of the most meaningful Euro 2020 results of the week and one which could give Group D a clear early shape.
History
These two teams haven’t met since the Euro qualifiers back in 1999 when Denmark won one and the other was match ended in a draw. That was towards the end of a golden period for the Danes, inspired by Peter Schmeichel, which started with an amazing European Championship win in 1992 and also featured an impressive run at the 1998 World Cup in France, where they reached the quarter-finals.
Switzerland’s heyday was some time ago, when they reached the World Cup quarter-finals three times, twice before the Second World War and the most recent in 1954. Meanwhile, their best showing at the European Championships was last time out when they reached the last 16 in France.
Denmark haven’t lost in their last 6 games. The Swiss have won three and lost three, though two of those defeats were away to big hitters Belgium and England.
Betting Tip
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Switzerland vs Denmark | Under 2.25 goals @ 1.80 |
| March 27 03:45 (GMT+8) |
With our latest SBOBET odds putting Switzerland at 2.07 to win, the draw at 3.25 and Denmark 3.45, this is a very tight match to call. While the Swiss are marginal favourites, I think Denmark have a good chance of extending their unbeaten run. This is especially true as they don’t need to worry about the dangerous Shaqiri.
The most likely score is 1-0 at 5.20, but I’d favour a 1-1 draw at slightly higher odds of 5.40.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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|---|---|---|---|
 = €20 (Highly confident) |
= €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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