Denmark won 2-0 in a friendly match against Iceland thanks to goals by Signe Bruun.
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Denmark was with 3 at the back in the build-up, with Troelsgaard, Pedersen, and Veje in the backline and Thrige Andersen providing support in attack out wide while Bredgaard dropped inside and distributed the ball from there. Signe Bruun was Denmark’s main target throughout the game. Pernille Harder was also striding wide at times toward the right, to provide crosses to the Real Madrid striker.
Bruun opened up the scoresheet in the 16th minute of the game. Denmark got two back-to-back corners, and their second one was a short corner routine finally crossed into the box by Kühl who found Bruun to masterfully head the ball in.
In the last 5 minutes of the first half, Bruun doubled Denmark’s lead. The constant press the Icelandic defence was put under by Bruun crumbled when she intercepted the ball during 6’s back pass to her goalkeeper. The striker took the ball and chipped it over Birkisdottir. There was one more instance in which her press humbled the Icelandic defence. In the 4th minute of the encounter, she intercepted a pass from the goalkeeper and tried to pass it to Pernille Harder at the center of the box, but it was finally blocked by Viggósdóttir’s good marking on Harder.
⚽️ Doblete de Signe Bruun tras una buena presión en campo contrario para hacer el segundo para Dinamarca de vaselina (2-0). pic.twitter.com/WXjKCI05NY
— Madrid Femenino Xtra (@madridfemxtra) December 2, 2024
On the other side, Jónsdóttir was the main threat to Denmark’s goal. The striker would lead the high press which wasn’t well understood by her teammates and oftentimes would be the only one pressing the Danish defence. Iceland’s formation stayed 4-2-3-1 even off-the-ball and they weren’t neither prone to rotations nor to pressing the Danes. When Jónsdóttir would manage to get a hold of the ball, her agility made it easy to free herself of the Danish defence and take a clear shot.
Thorsteinn Halldórsson made a triple substitution for Iceland, including one of the centrebacks Viggósdóttir.
Zomers and Tryggvadóttir joined Jónsdóttir in the press at times. Iceland looked refreshed at the start of the second half with Jónsdóttir going wide to provide the ball into the box for Zomers. With the introduction of Vilhjálmsdóttir, who came on for Tryggvadóttir in the 60’, Iceland’s build-up was showing. She would either recover the ball or immediately run up for a counterattack after a recovery in Iceland’s midfield. She would end up on the left flank in the counterattacks trying to cross the ball in.
Denmark had problems in the second part of the game. Their chances would mostly come down to making Iceland’s defence crumble under their press, whether it was Bruun or Vangsgaard.
In 73’ Bruun scored a goal from only a couple of meters from the goal, but it was correctly annulled for offside. Right after this action, she got subbed off for Mille Gejl in 75’.
Caroline Møller came on for Harder in 85’. Only 45 seconds in, Møller had a header attempt that came from Thrige Andersen’s cross from the right. The ball went just over the crossbar. Møller gravitated toward the wide areas when the ball was entering the last third and would position herself in the box during long actions controlled by Denmark.