Denmark 0-0 Tunisia: PLAYER RATINGS as Eriksen's side are held

Christian Eriksen stars on return to major competition while keepers Kasper Schmeichel and Aymen Dahmen make top saves… but Andreas Cornelius flops: PLAYER RATINGS after Denmark miss golden chance to seal a World Cup win over Tunisia

  • Denmark and Tunisia played out the first 0-0 draw of the 2022 World Cup finals
  • But both sides had chances to take all three points in the Group D opening game
  • Christian Eriksen looked creative for Denmark despite their failure to score 
  • Here is how Sportsmail rated both teams at the Education City Stadium 
  • Click here for the latest World Cup 2022 news, fixtures, live action and results

Denmark and Tunisia played out the first goalless draw of the 2022 World Cup, but the match wasn’t without action as both teams passed up good opportunities to claim all three points.

Both Group D sides had the ball in the net before seeing offside calls go against them on an afternoon where Christian Eriksen returned to a major tournament for the first time since collapsing on the pitch at Euro 2020 last year.

Sportsmail looks at how both teams fared at the Education City Stadium with our player ratings. 

DENMARK (4-3-3) 

Kasper Schmeichel – No longer a Premier League force but still a top class keeper after making what will likely be one of the saves of the tournament to deny Jebali in the first half. 8

Kasper Schmeichel produced a top class save to deny Tunisia in the first half

Joachim Anderson – Appeared to be targeted by Tunisia but after a sticky start grew into the game and eventually produced a composed second half display. 6

Simon Kjaer – Departed shortly after the hour mark having largely put in a largely mistake free display. The captain though struggled to inspire his side though and was too slow in distributing play from the back. 6

Andreas Christensen – Good display from the Barcelona and former Chelsea man who made a number of key blocks to keep Tunisia at bay. 7

Rasmus Kristensen – Picked up a harsh booking but couldn’t quite dovetail with Eriksen on the right to get Denmark’s attack flowing. 6

Thomas Delaney – Grew into the first half after failing to get a hold of the game but was forced off injured on the stroke of half-time after going down awkwardly in a challenge. 6

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – The Tottenham midfielder was one of the Danish players who had a better first half than second, with a long distance drive well saved by the Tunisia stopper. 6 

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg went close to scoring for Denmark with a long range effort

Joakim Maehle – Largely ineffective on the left side but started to grow in more influence once Denmark made their second half changes and pushed for a winner. 6.5

Andreas Skov Olsen – Found the net for Denmark but play had already correctly been brought back for offside. Otherwise did little else to threaten before departure. 5

Kasper Dolberg – Also failed to contribute much aside from a flick on at the near post which Skov Olsen should have attacked to score. 5 

Christian Eriksen – Hasn’t lost a step. Set-pieces caused Tunisia all sorts of problems and he will be a key player for Denmark at these finals. 8 

Christian Eriksen was at his creative best from set-pieces at least for Denmark on Tuesday

SUBSTITUTES

Mathias Jensen – Brought energy to Denmark’s attack after coming on. Took one for the team after being booked for a professional foul to halt a counter attack. 6.5

Mikkel Damsgaard – Replaced the injured Delaney but he too couldn’t find the creative edge to break down Tunisia who were comfortable defending against him. 5

Andreas Cornelius – Replaced Skov Olsen to offer more threat but ultimately missed the golden chance to score the winning goal by failing to head in from just two yards out. 5

Jesper Lindstrom – Made little impact on the game and was just as ineffective as the rest of Denmark’s substitutes. 6 

Andreas Cornelius (21) failed to turn in a later header to win the game for Denmark

TUNISIA (3-4-3)

Aymen Dahmen – Like his opposite number, was close to faultless and made some key saves while also looking composed when coming off his line to collect crosses. 8

Montassar Talbi – Did well to hold the left side of the back three and was often alert enough to produce crucial clearances. 7

Yassine Meriah – Survived the late penalty shout for handball that would have likely cost Tunisia a vital World Cup point following a strong performance. 7

Dylan Bronn – Saw little of the ball but was part of a stubborn back three that left Denmark hugely frustrated in their pursuit of victory. 6 

Mohamed Drager – Had a shot in the first half that took a wicked deflection before going just wide of Schmeichel’s goal. Replaced to a standing applause late on. 7

Ellyes Skhiri – Excellent showing in the middle of the park. Contributing to the defence while also playing a role in Tunisia’s attacks high up the pitch as well as on the counter. 7

Aissa Laidouni – Set the tone early with a crunching tackle on Eriksen and never let up after. Produced a tireless display that helped fire up the Tunisia supporters. 7 

Tunisia’s Aissa Laidouni put in an energetic performance as Tunisia grabbed a vital draw 

Ali Abdi – Officially down as a midfielder but he seemed to spend most of the game acting as an additional defender. Either way it proved effective to earn a draw. 6.5

Anis Ben Slimane – One of the more least effective of Tunisia’s stars – rarely seeing the ball before he was replaced with 23 minutes to play. 7

Issam Jebali – Saw a goal ruled out after a cool finish but probably should have scored after being played in on goal in a one-on-one with Schmeichel. 7

Youssef Msakni – An excellent showing from the Tunisia captain who led by example in tireless coverage of the pitch in defence and attack before being replaced having put in the hard yards. 8.5 

SUBSTITUTES

Naim Sliti – Didn’t have too many opportunities to attack after coming on, but when he did he had to be hacked down to prevent a dangerous counter developing. 6 

Issam Jebali was a constant threat in attack for Tunisia as they picked up a World Cup point




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