Let’s head out to the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam where Wales will face Denmark in the first 1/8-final game from the Euro 2020. What you should do right now is stay with us and our soccer predictions online for this fixture.
Wales did well in the group stage of the Euro and for a second consecutive time reached the knockout phase of the competition. The Dragons did this with a record of one win, one draw and one loss which was enough to beat Switzerland for the second place. They did it despite the absence of their manager Ryan Giggs who missed the Euro 2020 because of being under criminal investigation at the moment.
Wales are looking like a decent team at the moment. Their only win came against Turkey, and it wasn’t much of a surprise that they lost against the best team in the group Italy. This happened in the third game from the group stage when these two teams met at the Olimpico. One goal was enough for Italy to achieve a 1-0 win and finish the group stage with three wins from three matches played.
Wales knew they are underdogs against Italy, but still tried their best. We can say the game was decided in the 55th minute when the center-back Ethan Ampadu got sent off from the referee Ovidiu Hategan. With 10 men on the pitch it was pretty much obvious that Wales can’t oppose a team with Italy’s qualities. Now the manager Robert Page has some serious problem because Ampadu won’t be available for the 1/8-finals match against Denmark, and he’s a really important member of the team. Now Page must find a way to replace him in the starting eleven in the best way possible although it won’t be easy - Ethan Ampadu is a quality player.
Rob Page took a really interesting decision as he started the game against Italy without a pure striker. Aaron Ramsey took the role of a “false nine”, supported by Gareth Bale and Daniel James. After hour of playing Page decided to change these tactics and picked the striker Kieffer Moore from the bench. Most likely Moore is going to start against Denmark because these are the tactics which allowed the Dragons to reach the knockout phase of Euro 2020.
There are many key players in Wales’ squad right now. The veteran Joe Allen brings a lot of balance in midfield while Aaron Ramsey is the man who brings the so needed creativity in Wales’ team. At the same time Gareth Bale and Daniel James are the wingers who must terrorise the opponent’s defense and eventually feed the striker with balls in the penalty area. Bale missed a penalty kick during the 2-0 win against Turkey in the group, but at the end of the game he made an assist for one of his team’s goals.
Denmark are living a real fairytale since the beginning of the competition. The Red Dynamite lost the star Christain Eriksen in their first match and suffered two losses in the first two games, but the magic happened in the final third game in Group B. The Red Dynamite faced Russia and achieved a spectacular 4-1 over Sbornaya which allowed them to progress. They also had the luck of Belgium playing fairplay because at the same time the Red Devils achieved a win over Finland.
It was just an incredible performance by the Danish team against Russia. Mikkel Damsgaard, Yussuf Poulsen, Andreas Christensen and Joakim Mahle scored for Kasper Hjulmand’s team at the Parken. Surely it was Denmark’s best game so far at the Euro 2020. Some might say they deserved such a performance after what they have to go through with Christian Eriksen’s collapse against Finland. The truth is they found an inspiration to continue to fight - and they deserve respect for this.
Denmark’s head coach Kasper Hjulmand made some changes to his tactics for the decisive game against Russia in Copenhagen. He used a 3-4-3 formation and put Thomas Delaney and Pierre-Emil Hojbjerg as a duo in central midfield. Yussuf Poulsen was leading the attack while Martin Braithwaite and Mikkel Damsgaard supported him as second strikers. At the samte time Daniel Wass and Joakim Mahle did some good job from the two flanks. Mahle even scored a goal while Pierre-Emil Hojbjerg shined with an assist for the Scandinavians.
The manager Kasper Hjulmand admitted after the game it was difficult for the team to deal with what happened to Christian Eriksen. And it was especially hard after Denmark suffered two losses in their first two matches at the Euro. But how they say - everything is good when it ends good, right? This team deserves respect for the courage they showed in a very complex situation. The question is - can they do it one more time now?
Here we have to mention the fact that this is going to be Denmark’s first game at the Euro 2020 which is not going to be played at the Parken in Copenhagen. This could influence the match in some way because this time the Red Dynamite won’t have the support of the stands. It remains to be seen how this is going to affect the Danish side.
That’s our soccer predictions online for the Euro 2020 1/8-finals game between Wales and Denmark. The Dragons won more points than the Scandinavians in the group stage, but at the same time Denmark looked really impressive in their last match against Russia. Both teams have some influential players who can decide the game here. Aaron Ramsey, Gareth Bale and Daniel James are the Welsh stars while Pierre-Emil Hojbjerg, Martin Braithwaite and Yussuf Poulsen must show their worth in the knockout phase of the competition, too. The 20-years old Mikkel Damsgaard made a great performance against the Russians, too. It’s difficult to give any team here some real advantage, so let’s see what they can offer us at the Johan Cruijff Arena on Saturday.