Cymru beaten by impressive Denmark

Denmark 2-0 Cymru

• Cymru suffer second Nations League defeat
• Bellamy makes six changes from Portugal loss
• Denmark impress with Højlund forcing goal and Isaksen scoring
• Cymru play Norway in Cardiff on Thursday

Denmark claimed a 2-0 victory in Copenhagen to leave Craig Bellamy’s side without a point or a goal from their opening two games in this group.

Bellamy made six changes to his starting line-up from the side that lost 1-0 to Portugal in Lisbon on Thursday night, while his Danish counterpart, Brian Riemer, made just one change following their 3-2 defeat against Norway.

Charlie Savage was amongst those brought into midfield for his first competitive start for his country, but it was Denmark who dominated the early exchanges with Patrick Dorgu and Mikkel Damsgaard causing problems for the Cymru defence. 

Sorba Thomas offered Bellamy’s side an outlet on the left but opportunities for him to get on the ball were few and far between as Gustav Isaksen, Dorgu and Damsgaard all had chances for the home side, without testing Danny Ward.

The big talking point of the opening half occurred on 24 minutes as a superb counter-attack from Denmark resulted in Isaksen scoring a superb left foot volley. However, the celebrations were cut short as a VAR review confirmed that Rasmus Højlund was offside in the build-up.

Denmark were not dented by the decision and Damsgaard hit the post minutes later. Dorgu was forced to leave the field on the half-hour mark, and it was time for Cymru to make an impression on the match. On 33 minutes, Thomas fired an excellent shot narrowly wide of goalkeeper Filip Jørgensen’s far post.

Cymru were growing in confidence, and after Brennan Johnson drilled a free-kick wide of the post, he turned provider for Connor Roberts who forced Jørgensen into making a fine save before referee Willy Delajod brought a frantic and entertaining half to an end.

Following the restart, Neco Williams saw his deflected effort saved by Jørgensen as Cymru started brightly, but it didn’t take long for Denmark to regain control with substitute Mohamed Daramy having his effort blocked before the home side eventually took the lead.

A testing free-kick from Damsgaard on 53 minutes was turned into his own net by Cymru captain Ben Davies as he challenged Højlund for the ball. It was a huge blow for the visitors, and a second goal should have followed soon after as Daramy failed to convert a simple chance at the back post.

The Danes doubled their lead on 65 minutes as Cymru failed to deal with another Damsgaard free-kick and it was the impressive Isaksen who fired the ball past Ward. The Cymru goalkeeper was called into action again to make a decent save from Daramy ten minutes later.

Cymru did create more opportunities before the final whistle, with Roberts once again being denied by Jørgensen before Williams headed over the bar. However, Denmark could have made it a more convincing victory as Oliver Provstgaard headed wide before Højlund had a goal ruled out for offside.