Age Hareide Claims Denmark 'Would Have Been Stupid' to Press on for a Win in Their Draw With France

Danish manager Age Hareide made the headlines with his comments leading into this game after he claimed France were 'nothing special'. France manager Didier Deschamps hit back at the comments prior to the match but the contest itself did not live up to the talk. 

Denmark and France played out the World Cup's first 0-0 draw in a game that offered little to the highlight package, failing to produce any moments of note. Hareide remains upbeat with the result though and actually claims it would have been stupid for his side to press ahead for a victory. 

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Hareide was quoted by ESPN as saying: "We just needed one point, right? We were up against one of the best counter-attacking teams in the world. We would have been stupid if we opened up. We played to get the result and we did it."

Boos rang out at full-time from both sets of fans after one of the worst games of the World Cup so far but Hareide feels his side can still hold their heads high after avoiding defeat against one of the tournament favourites. 

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"You need to do what you need to do but for the team, this has been wonderful. Our goal was to come here and to progress to the last 16. We had a tough group, one of the toughest I believe. The team that got three points [and did not qualify], Peru, played the best football. We sacrificed everything to get the point and take us to the next level," Hareide continued.

The Danes will have to wait to see who they will face in the next round but it will most likely be Croatia, who look on course to win the group after beating Nigeria and Argentina. 

Hareide was full of praise for Zlatko Dalic's side, finishing by saying: "They are a really, really good team. They look strong. We have taken a look at Croatia. We have seen them play and they are very strong."