Danes’ smash & grab

Peru 0 Denmark 1

DENMARK boss Age Hareide admitted his team got lucky as Yussuf Poulsen’s strike saw off Peru.

The Peruvians missed a first-half penalty and then squandered a host of chances as the Danes pulled off a smash-andgrab raid.

Christian Cueva blew the South Americans’ big opportunity just before the interval as he blazed over a spot-kick awarded via the video assistant referee system.

Poulsen (above), who had given the penalty away with a foul on Cueva, then broke the deadlock in the 59th minute with a cool finish having been teed up by Christian Eriksen.

Peru’s all-time top scorer Paolo Guerrero, cleared to play at the tournament when a court temporarily lifted his 14-month drug ban, went close to equalising after coming off the bench.

His backheeled effort went wide, before Jefferson Farfan was denied by the foot of Kasper Schmiechel.

Hareide said: “Peru were unlucky and deserved more but that’s football and maybe in their next game they will be the ones to get lucky.”

Midfielder William Kvist was injured, and Hareide added: “We think Kvist has a fractured rib. If it is, then he’ll be out of the World Cup.”