Braithwaite confident: Of course Denmark among World Cup favourites

Braithwaite confident: Of course Denmark among World Cup favourites

| Natalia KOLESNIKOVA (AFP)

The ex-Barcelona striker thinks the Danes can go all the way in Qatar

The Danish national team go into the World Cup in good shape and with positive feelings in Qatar. They aim to be one of the teams to follow in the tournament. After reaching the semifinals at Euro 2020 (eliminated by England after extra time) and coming within one point of the Nations League Final Four, they arrive in the Middle East ready to maintain the level of recent years.

In the last Nations League, Denmark shared a group with world champions France... and they beat them twice! The victory in Paris (1-2) was confirmation of Kasper Hjulmand's team's arrival at the top table. In the final game, and with the French on the brink of relegation to Division B, Denmark once again surprised them (2-0) in Copenhagen. Only Croatia's parallel triumph in Vienna prevented the Danes from qualifying for the Final Four.

For that reason, former Barcelona striker Martin Braithwaite believes that his country is a serious candidate to lift the World Cup.

"We are very confident," he said. "We have already managed to do things well in the Nations League. We know that people do not see us as favorites to win the World Cup, but of course we are. We are here to win, not to participate."

Curiously, in Qatar, Denmark will once again share a group with the world champions. They will play again against Didier Deschamps' men on the second game of the World Cup. Will they win again? As an anecdote, the first official match of the Danish National Team was against the French team at the 1908 London Olympics... and they won 9-0. Also, Denmark's best result in a match in their entire history was 17-1 in that same tournament…again against France!

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