Shakespeare once famously had a minor character in Hamlet note, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." But when it comes to Group D, all four countries are actually quite ripe — ripe for being selected as examples of national doing the most with the soccer resources at their disposal in recent decades.
That includes Les Bleus. The seventh-largest qualifier nation in terms of population, France will be the birth nation for more World Cup players than any other for the third consecutive tournament, including considerable portions of the squads for Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal. Denmark have climbed into 10th in the FIFA World Rankings despite a population of just over 5 million. Tunisia are the smallest African nation to reach this year’s tournament. And Australia is the least populated Asian nation to qualify. (Yes, Asian; we'll explain.)
FIFA World Rankings
As of Oct. 6, 2022
France, 4
Denmark, 10
Tunisia, 30
Australia, 38
Populations
(according to World Population Review)
France: 64,676,385
Australia: 26,276,376
Tunisia: 12,391,954
Denmark: 5,893,150
World Cup history
France
Today, Les Bleus are established as one of the half-dozen or so seminal powers expected to be contenders for every World Cup and every European championship. But it wasn’t always so. Although France was influential in the establishment of FIFA and one of only four European nations to attend the first World Cup in 1930, Les Blues never finished higher than third until winning as hosts in 1998 led a young and already brilliant Zinedine Zidane. That was the first of France's three finals appearances in the last six tournaments, including a second triumph at Russia 2018.
Denmark
The Danes are known for one of the great shocks of international football when they won Euro ‘92, but at the World Cup, they only qualified for the first time in 1986 and have never been beyond the Round of 16. Even so, advancing beyond their group four out of five times is quite an accomplishment for a nation of their size. Their best performance ended in a 3-2 loss to Brazil in a 1998 quarterfinal in Nantes that was arguably the best match of the tournament.
Tunisia
The small North African nation made history in 1978 by becoming the first African team to win a World Cup match, defeating Mexico 3-1. The remainder of their five appearances have come since 1998, and they’re still looking to advance beyond the group stage for the first time. Technically, you could also lump Tunisia in with France for the early part of history, since the former did not gain its independence from the latter until after the 1954 tournament.
Australia
The Socceroos are in their fifth consecutive World Cup after participating just once in the first 72 years of the tournament’s history. Part of the reason is the 2004 launch of the A-League, a story that mirrors in some ways the rise of MLS. But another is the decision to leave the Oceania region for the Asian Football Confederation and thus avoiding an all-or-nothing intercontinental playoff each cycle. Their best performance came in 2006, when they escaped a tough group that included Brazil, Croatia and Japan to reach the Round of 16.
How they got here
France
Despite a disappointing showing in Euro 2020, France qualified out of UEFA relatively comfortably, finishing six points clear in Group D and posting a +15 goal differential.
Denmark
The Danes posted a +27 goal differential in Group F and won nine of their 10 matches despite a group that included respectable opponents in Scotland, Austria and Israel.
Tunisia
The North Africans reached Qatar primarily on the strength of their defensive record, conceding only twice in Group B and then winning their two-legged playoff 1-0 against Mali, scoring their only goal away in the first leg.
Australia
The Socceroos won all eight of their second-round qualifying matches, only to then sneak into Qatar by the skin of their teeth following the final stages. Australia finished third behind Saudi Arabia and Japan in Group B of the Asian third round — and only a point ahead of Oman. They followed that with a 2-1, single-game win over the UAE in early June to decide Asia’s representative to an inter-continental playoff. Six days after that win, they edged past Peru on penalties.
(You might remember it.)
Andrew Redmayne stole the spotlight in penalty kicks to send Australia to the World Cup over Peru.
— The Athletic Soccer (@TheAthleticSCCR) June 14, 2022
🎥 @FOXSoccerpic.twitter.com/Pr8dJ1wGb2
The cast of characters
As many stars and as much quality as France have, the most intriguing man in Group D has to be Denmark’s Christian Eriksen. Only 17 months removed from suffering cardiac arrest on the field at Euro 2020 in a match against Belgium, Eriksen has recovered from the ordeal. In February, he was cleared to return to football, and immediately helped Brentford begin their spring climb up the Premier League table, and now finds himself in Manchester United’s midfield. He’ll make Denmark the easy team for neutrals to get behind in Group D, and maybe well beyond if this talented generation of Danish players can put it all together.
France will be without the injured Paul Pogba and N’golo Kante in midfield, but there are still plenty of heroes from the 2018 team. That includes forwards Antoine Griezmann and Kylian M’bappe, who were both critical in the 2018 run. Additionally, 36-year-old (and still extremely handsome) forward Olivier Giroud could be on the big international stage for the final time.
Honestly, if you’re looking for familiar faces in the ranks of Australia and Tunisia, you’re not going to see many unless you watch the A-League or a range of Scottish Premier League teams outside the Old Firm. Columbus Crew center back Milos Degenek is part of Australia’s set-up and the only MLS representative in the group. Sunderland fans will (maybe? probably?) remember Tunisia striker Warbi Karzhi for his three goals scored for the Black Cats in 35 Premier League appearances between 2016 and 2017.
A name to remember (who might not be on your radar)
Now that Uruguay has moved on from the amazing 15-year run of Oscar Tabarez, France head coach Didier Deschamps is the longest-tenured manager at the tournament, having served for just over a decade. That’s a remarkable accomplishment anywhere in the international game, and even more so at the head of a program like France where the sheer volume of talent makes public expectations almost impossibly high.
Deschamps is already in extremely rarefied air as one of only three men on the planet to win the World Cup as both a player and a manager, joining Brazi’s Mario Zagallo and Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer. If France goes back to back, he’ll be only the second manager to win the tournament twice, joining Italy’s Vittorio Pozzo, who won the title in 1934 and 1938.
Phil West’s Mascot Fight Corner
Who would win in a battle royal among all four mascots?
Though known as Les Blues, France is represented on its badge and its iconography with a Gallic rooster, so we’re going to start there. Australia is represented, awesomely, by the Socceroos, which are soccer-playing kangaroos, of course. Tunisia’s known as the Eagles of Carthage. Denmark has a pedestrian red and white moniker, De Rød-Hvide, but there’s another more compelling nickname for them: Danish Dynamite. Now we have possibilities!
This scenario plays out like a classic Saturday morning cartoon. Clearly, if there’s dynamite in the scene, it’s a Chekhov’s gun situation, and the dynamite will go off. The next step is to figure what animal mascots will be in the wake of the dynamite and which will be able to escape. I think the rooster gets it (sorry, France) and Danish Dynamite sacrifices itself in the process, leaving eagles against kangaroos. Not just ordinary kangaroos, mind you, but kangaroos that have embellished their kicking prowess through practicing the beautiful game. They also, of course, possess upper body strength that allows them to push and punch.
I think, for a while, that eagles will flap and peck at kangaroos who will then try to bound away. But then, once a kangaroo actually knocks down an eagle with a kick or a punch, the kangaroo will triumph. It’s going to be long and excruciating and hard to watch, just like some of the matches in this group will be. But I think the ’roos will win out in this mascot fight (with the European teams taking the actual group). - Phil West
Who is likely to advance?
It would be one of the bigger shocks in the tournament if either France or Denmark fail to move on from this group. A cursory glance suggests it’s the latter who are more likely to hit a speed bump. But the former, in some ways, face the more difficult road, having to play a nation they once colonized. Those games are always emotionally fraught, and have led to upsets in the past. France need look back no further to their previous World Cup title defense, when they lost the 2002 tournament opener to Senegal.