Denmark search for right combination to unlock scoring

DOHA : Denmark finally found the back of net at the World Cup in a 2-1 loss to France on Saturday but coach Kasper Hjulmand continues to search for the right combination to unlock the scoring his team will need in their final Group D showdown with Australia.

France became the first team through to the knockout stage following their win at Stadium 974 but the Danes still have plenty of work to do as they need a win over Australia on Wednesday to have any chance of following Les Bleus.

That will require goals and the Danes have found themselves in a scoring drought in the desert.

"You cannot expect to push a button and expect to score a lot of goals," said Hjulmand, whose team have scored only once over two matches this week. "We have a lot of good strikers and we were very close today.

"I really like what we have and... on this team we have a lot of goal scorers.

"All through 2021 we had 18 different goal scorers on the national team so that shows that our goals come from a lot of different players.

"In the World Cup qualification games we had eight wins and 29 goals so we have great strikers with great players all around the pitch that can score."

After a toothless attacking performance in the goalless draw with Tunisia, Hjulmand shook up his attack for France. He brought in Andreas Cornelius for Kasper Dolberg and Jesper Lindstrom for Andreas Skov Olsen, but the changes had little effect as the Danes failed to register a shot on target in the first half.

Searching for a spark up front, Hjulmand again decided to shake things up again by bringing on Martin Braithwaite for Cornelius to start the second half and then later substituting winger Mikkel Damsgaard for Sevilla striker Kasper Dolberg.

Despite the changes the only goal for