Denmark
beat Israel 5-0 on Tuesday with five different players scoring for the Danes to
put them on the verge of securing a place at the 2022 World Cup with barely
half of the qualifying games played.

Denmark has
won all the six World Cup qualifiers they have played so far. The team had also
reached the semifinals at the European Championship in July. They have a
perfect clean sheet record as nobody has been able to breach their defence in
the qualifiers. One more win could secure a spot at next year’s tournament in
Qatar.

Israel came
into the game in second place in Group F but were of no match to the Danes. The
closest the Israelites came to scoring was when Eran Zahavi put the ball in the
net early on, only for it to be ruled out for offside. After that, they did not
have a single shot on target.

Yussuf
Poulsen drew first blood for Denmark in the 28th minute with a goal on the
rebound after Israeli goalkeeper Ofir Marciano failed to hold Mikkel
Damsgaard’s volley. Three minutes later, Denmark captain Simon Kjaer headed in
his team’s second goal from a free-kick, before goals from Andreas Skov Olsen
and Thomas Delaney.

Andreas
Cornelius capped the win with a fifth goal in stoppage time, Denmark’s 22nd in
just six qualifying games.

Denmark
leads the group by seven points from Scotland, which beat Austria 1-0 to move
up to second in the group.

Depending
on results elsewhere, Denmark could guarantee first place and a qualifying spot
in its October 9 game against Moldova. Denmark beat Moldova 8-0 in their
previous meeting.

In Other
games of the day, Scotland managed to beat Austria in Vienna thanks to a
30th-minute penalty from Lyndon Dykes, awarded for a foul on Che Adams
following video review. Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon kept his team ahead
with a superb save to deny Christoph Baumgartner at a corner in the 79th. The
Austrian crowd booed the team at the final whistle.

Finishing
second in Group F would give Scotland a playoff spot and a shot at reaching its
first World Cup since 1998.

The Faeroe
Islands beat Moldova 2-1.

(With AP inputs)