Denmark fired up for 'intense' Scotland as £15.5m key man shares verdict on Steve Clarke's men
The Danish playmaker says his side have lots of respect for Scotland.
Denmark international Morten Hjulmand says his teammates will show full respect to Scotland this week, but has warned they are determined to ensure Steve Clarke’s men don’t stand in the way of their World Cup dream.
The two nations meet in the opening game of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Copenhagen on Friday, and the deep-lying playmaker will be handed the task of unlocking the Tartan Army defence when the two sides meet, with veteran Christian Eriksen left out of Brian Riemer’s squad.
Viewed as one of his nation’s key players, Hjulmand played a pivotal role for Denmark at last summer’s European Championships in Germany, but says representing his side at next summer’s World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico is his ultimate ambition, having not been picked for the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
“It’s probably the ultimate goal for me as a player to play in a World Cup for the Danish national team,” said Hjulmand, who cost Sporting CP a whopping £15.5million when he signed from Lecce two summers ago. “It’s been a focus throughout the Nations League group stage, where securing a good seeding for qualification was crucial. Now we’re in this group, and we want to progress from it.
Favourites to win Group C, the Danes will travel to Piraeus to face Greece on Monday following their game with Scotland, and Hjulmand wants to make sure they kick-off their qualifying campaign with the maximum of six points, but he insists that nothing will be won this weekend, and that they are treating the game against Clarke’s side at Parken as a two-legged affair.
“Securing a good seeding through the Nations League was important,” said Hjulmund. “There’s always a waiting period with the World Cup - it only happens every four years. The hunt starts now with these two matches against Scotland and Greece. I think it’ll be a big challenge. I have lots of respect for both teams, even though they bring different strengths.
“Scotland at home, as we kick off, will be an intense match. They bring a very physical approach to their games, with many [English] Premier League players who are used to playing at a high-intensity level. Then we go to Greece, where we’ll play quite late, probably in a different climate than Denmark’s, so it’ll be a different kind of challenge compared to playing at home in Parken. But it’s something we’ve been waiting for, and we’ve been preparing for it.
“In June, we tried a few different things in our friendly matches, which we plan to bring into this game on Friday. They’ll be important, but so will the other four matches. Nothing is decided after these two games. Regardless of the results, everything remains open with six games to play.
“You could say the first half of the battle against Scotland is on Friday at home, and the second-half will be when we travel to Scotland. But let’s take it one game at a time, starting with Scotland on Friday at Parken. We are ready.”
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