Christian Eriksen made his major tournament return as Denmark produced one of the goalless football results of the midweek action in the World Cup. Eriksen was denied by goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen as the Danes, semifinalists at the European Championships, watched their World Cup get off to a stop-start start. Substitute Andreas Cornelius had the finest opportunity of the game but struck the post from a yard out.
Issam Jebali’s goal was disallowed for offside, but Tunisia made an impression with their aggressive play, especially in the opening period. The attacker then forced an outstanding save from Kasper Schmeichel. Ten minutes after the half, Andreas Skov Olsen’s goal for Denmark was disallowed. In added time, Yassine Meriah of Tunisia appeared to have committed a handball, but referee Cesar Ramos decided not to call a penalty after consulting the VAR monitor.
With a crushing tackle on Eriksen in the first two minutes, Aissa Laidouni set the tone and motivated Tunisia to dominate the opening period. After Jebali sprinted in behind the Denmark defence and toe-poked past Schmeichel despite being flagged offside, Mohamed Drager’s deflected shot went just wide. The aggressive style of Tunisia was difficult for Denmark to adjust to, although they did had a shout for a penalty waved away when Tottenham’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg fell down in the area while being pressed by Laidouni. When Schmeichel expertly pushed Jebali’s dink behind, the Danes were able to tie the score at halftime.
Skov Olsen scored for Denmark in the bottom corner during the second half, but Mikkel Damsgaard, the substitute, was offside during the play. When goalkeeper Dahmen saved Eriksen’s left-footed attempt, Cornelius miraculously headed onto a post from close range at the ensuing corner, preventing a fairytale goal. As Tunisia rushed up the other end, Joachim Andersen’s handball was ruled not to have merit for a penalty, and VAR did not even look into the situation.
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