Preview: Joachim Andersen
There’s a little trademark confidence to Joachim Andersen when discussing Denmark’s World Cup chances. Perhaps that’s not surprising: they beat favourites France last time out and took England to extra time in the European Championships semi-final.
Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest during the tournament meant Denmark’s efforts were backed worldwide and, from the outside, has given the nation a unique look of unity and purpose.
Andersen says their togetherness is palpable, but that is pre-existed the 2020 Euros. “We are really, really good friends – everyone – outside the pitch, which is really, really important,” he says. “You can see that on the pitch in the way we work together, the togetherness, really compact, really hard to beat. It’s all to do with outside the pitch. I enjoy playing for them.
“Many players have played together for a long time in the national team or with other clubs. That’s where the connection is from. I played together with a lot of the guys for a long time and we just have fun together. I don’t know what we do to get that connection, it’s difficult to say how it is in other teams but we just feel really connected and have a good laugh.”
In qualifying Denmark conceded just three goals, two of them in the same match, showing a defensive solidity Andersen plays a central part in, alongside Barcelona’s Andreas Christensen.
The central defender again credits team spirit with that attribute: “This togetherness, we are so difficult to beat,” he says. “We work so hard, everyone, from the strikers to the defenders. We are a unit, so compact and it’s hard to beat us. We have an amazing goalkeeper [Kasper Schmeichel] as well who makes some good saves. So I think it’s down to that: simple, working together.”
So what about that trademark confidence?
“I always think we can go all the way otherwise I wouldn’t play,” Andersen says with a smile. “Every game we want to win and in the end you win the World Cup. But of course it’s difficult because there are a lot of nations. We showed we are a good team, showed we have quality and can go along in tournaments.
“We just beat France, so you never know. We beat France in the Nations League but obviously they are world class, a world class team. I think we have good possibilities to go through from the group.”