Well-oiled Danish machine awaits Scotland

World Cup qualifying, Group C: Denmark v Scotland

Venue: Parken, Copenhagen Date: Friday, 5 September Kick-off: 19:45 BST

Coverage: Watch live on BBC Scotland, BBC Two, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website & app, text updates on BBC Sport website & app, listen on BBC Radio Scotland & Sounds

The 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico was one of those iconic football tournaments that lives long in the memory of those who watched it unfold.

A hosting that, somehow, survived a devastating earthquake just eight months before it kicked off at Mexico City's iconic Azteca and was littered with superstars, iconic moments and imagery.

An Argentine by the name of Diego Armando Maradona would, of course, dominate said imagery, as many individuals do at these tournaments.

But the support shone brightly too. The hosts had Hugo Sanchez, Spain had Emilio Butrageuno, Uruguay had Enzo Francescoli, France had Michel Platini, England had Gary Lineker.

And, when Scotland walked out into the thin air and stifling heat at the Estadio Neza in Nezahualcoyotl, standing opposite them were the team known as "Danish Dynamite".

It was Denmark's first ever World Cup finals match.

They had their own stars. Soren Lerby, Frank Arnesen, Michael Laudrup, Martin Olsen and Preben Elkjaer had the entirety of Denmark dreaming of becoming world champions.

Two years earlier, they had taken Spain to penalties in the semi-finals of the European Championship in Lyon.

Elkjaer missed the decisive spot-kick. He would make amends in his next big tournament match.

In Mexico, and despite the big beasts of the footballing world around them, Denmark were seen as one of the favourites.

Elkjaer fired past Jim Leighton to beat Alex Ferguson's Scotland, a result that helped send them through to the knockouts, along with a 6-1 humbling of the ill-disciplined Uruguayans and a 2-0 success over West Germany.

They soon ran into the Spanish again in the last 16 and it was a surprise that they were routed 5-1.

However, the Danes were on the big stage and six years later came their crowning moment as they defeated a newly reunified Germany 2-0 to win the Euros at Gothenburg's Ullevi.

The story of Kim Vilfort leaving his late daughter's bedside to play in the semis and final of that tournament as she battled leukaemia, scoring a penalty in the last four shoot-out against the Netherlands before hitting the second against the Germans in the showpiece, was as remarkable as it was emotional.

Denmark had not even qualified for that tournament but took full advantage of their reprieve after Yugoslavia were thrown out amid the country's break-up.

All those years later, the Danes remain one of European football's powerhouses and are regularly seen at big tournaments as they prepare to welcome Steve Clarke's Scotland to Copenhagen this week.

Another opener between them, this time in the qualifiers for a tournament the hosts have been regulars at during Scotland's barren years.

Denmark have qualified for five of the past seven World Cups and topped their qualifying group for the 2022 edition, finishing four points clear of Clarke's men.

They prepare to renew acquaintance on Friday at the start of a campaign that was once played out across two seasons but will be completed within two months this time.

It means there is little wriggle room for either team, with an emerging Greece side also in the mix and only the group winners automatically qualifying for the competition in the Americas next summer.

Current Denmark head coach Brian Riemer, once Thomas Frank's assistant at Brentford, has demanded his team makes a fast start against Scotland and has urged his players to embrace being favourites.

From Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, defenders Anders Christiansen and Joakim Maelhe to Brentford's Mikkel Damsgaard, captain Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Brendan Rodgers' summer target, Kasper Dolberg, this is a well-oiled machine.

It is, however, a machine without its star man for so long, with club-less midfielder Christian Eriksen left out following his departure from Manchester United.

The Danes have only lost one of their past 17 home games and that was to the current European champions, and old foes, Spain in last year's Nations League.

Meanwhile, Clarke endured one of his most difficult nights in charge the last time they met at the Parken in 2021, with the Danes easing to a 2-0 victory.

Scotland would recover thereafter in the group, but there is no real time for recovery this time around.

Any defeat along this journey could do mortal damage to hopes of ending this seemingly perpetual hiatus from the greatest football show on earth.

It is the toughest start Clarke could have been handed and, while their top seeds are not France, Germany, Portugal or Spain, the Danes have proven what they are capable of down the years, despite standing on the shoulders of their own giants.