An away friendly against Slovakia was unlikely to be of much concern to even Denmark’s press, who may still be wondering what would have happened if they had beat Croatia on penalties in the World Cup just two months ago.
News broke on Tuesday night that those heroes from Russia, including the likes of Christian Eriksen and Kasper Schmeichel, had refused to sign a new deal with the Danish Football Association (DBU) over commercial image right disputes.
The reports initially appeared on Monday, during which time Denmark were 6/4 (2.50) with some firms and Slovakia were out as long as 17/10 (2.70) to win Wednesday's game, but those prices didn’t stay that way for long.
By the end of the day on Tuesday, SportPesa made Denmark whopping 47/4 (12.75) underdogs as the squad was confirmed to be made up of lower league Danish players and even some futsal players.
As it stands, the Scandinavian nation are out at 25/1 (26.0) to claim victory in Slovakia, with the hosts now 1/20 (1.05) and a stalemate available at 12/1 (13.0) .
Whilst Slovakia can hardly be considered footballing titans, they made it to the Last 16 at Euro 2016 and their squad boasts recognisable names such as Martin Skrtel, Martin Dubravka and Marek Hamsik.
SportPesa offer 10/17 (1.59) that over 4.5 goals are scored in Trnava or 6/5 (2.20) for over 5.5, whilst backing Slovakia -4.0 on the Asian Handicap line is priced at 2/3 (1.66) .
The peculiar nature of this match makes it unpredictable but is surely likely to result in a big home win, given that most visiting players are playing in the third of domestic football at best, or playing for only the 51st best futsal nation in the world.
This scenario also throws Denmark’s Nations League campaign into doubt as, if the situation is not resolved in the coming days, this same squad will be facing Wales in their opening match of the tournament on Sunday.
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