In the first round of Euro 2024, Denmark will face Slovenia, one of the well-prepared teams for this tournament. Meanwhile, the Danish team is also in high spirits after winning both friendly matches before the Euro. The goal of both Slovenia and Denmark is to win the match at 23:00 on June 16.
Expert opinion on the Slovenia vs Denmark match
Denmark has shown impressive strength with 2 strong victories against Norway and Sweden. Coach Kasper Hjulmand’s team has a relatively effective playing style. They didn’t have much ball possession in the last 2 matches but still won. Denmark’s fans are quite satisfied with their central midfield duo, Andreas Christensen and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who excel in ball retrieval in the midfield, reducing pressure on the defense. However, Denmark’s attack has not been very effective. Most of their goals in the recent matches came from set-piece situations. Rasmus Hojlund, Mikkel Damsgaard, and Jonas Wind have not been able to score.
On the other hand, Slovenia has also made good progress for this year’s tournament. They defeated Armenia 2-1 before drawing 1-1 with Bulgaria. Similar to their opponent, Slovenia does not have much ball possession, with 51% and 52% of the ball in the last 2 matches. One of the reasons for Slovenia’s defensive counter-attacking style is the quality of their players. Except for notable names like Jan Oblak and Benjamin Sesko, most of Slovenia’s players compete in domestic leagues and lower-level competitions.
Head-to-head record between Slovenia vs Denmark in the past
In the past, Slovenia and Denmark have met 6 times. The record favors Denmark, as they have never lost to Slovenia. Specifically, Denmark has won 5 times, while Slovenia has only managed to draw once.
Odds for the Slovenia vs Denmark match
In the first match of Euro 2024 and one of the key matches in the group stage, Slovenia vs Denmark will surely give their all. However, it may be difficult to expect an open game as neither team wants to concede early goals. With a shared tendency of not having much ball possession and a defensive counter-attacking style, both teams will create a cautious and tactical game.
The balance in the match will somewhat favor Denmark. Clearly, their squad for this tournament has much more impressive professional quality than Slovenia. Additionally, their overall consistency in all positions will help Denmark implement their playing style and take the initiative against their opponent. On the other hand, Slovenia’s rare bright spot is Sesko, a forward who performed well for RB Leipzig last year.
- Under/Over score: The goal-scoring form that Slovenia has had in the last 5 matches has stopped at 8 goals. That’s about 1.6 goals per game. Meanwhile, the number for Denmark is only 1.4. Therefore, it will be quite difficult to expect the upcoming match between the two teams to have more than 2 goals.
- Corners: The fact that both teams prefer to use quick counter-attacks will lead to a high corner kick count in the upcoming match. Especially on Denmark’s side. Eriksen and his teammates have had up to 16 corner kicks in 2 matches preparing for this year’s Euro.
- Choose Denmark -0.75: The handicap set by the bookmaker is -0.75 for Denmark. With this handicap, choosing the team with the upper hand is still a fairly bright option. Because so far, Slovenia has only lost to Denmark once, but that was when they played at home.
Information about the squads of Slovenia and Denmark
Slovenia: Full squad at best condition. Denmark: Full and best squad condition
Predicted line-ups for Slovenia and Denmark
Slovenia (formation 4-3-3): Oblak, Karnicnik, Brekalo, Bijol, Janza, Horvat, Gnezda Cerin, Elsnik, Sporar, Sesko, Mlakar. Denmark (formation 4-4-2): Schmeichel, Bah, Andersen, Vestergaard, Kristiansen, Hojbjerg, Christensen, Hjulmand, Eriksen, Hojlund, Damsgaard. Predicted match score: Slovenia 0-2 Denmark
