Already well on their way to missing out on a World Cup debut as an independent nation yet again, Belarus saw their hopes of a positive result all but shot down in flames before they could settle, with two Danish goals in quick succession.
The first (on 14’) came via a simple square pass from Andreas Christensen straight to the feet of Froholdt, who did the rest by striking inside the right-hand post for his first international goal.
Just six minutes later, the Porto man celebrated the occasion by turning provider when he received a long ball left of the goal and squared to Rasmus Hojlund, who stuck the ball in with an outstretched leg.
Eager to make it five goals in October alone – after vital efforts against Sporting CP and Genoa – the in-form Dane struck again just as HT loomed, following up with a tap-in at the end of Patrick Dorgu’s shot against the post.
Denmark didn’t stop there, though, and made it 4-0 in the sixth of seven added minutes, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg audaciously dinking a pass over a disorganised Belarus backline to Hojlund, who played the ball across to Dorgu for a simple finish.
But the torment was far from over for Belarus, as after a mercifully quiet opening quarter-hour from the restart, the fresh legs of two substitutes combined, when Hojbjerg lofted a ball to the right edge of the box. From that inch-perfect ball, a headed flick on by Lucas Hogsberg found Anders Dreyer on the penalty spot, and he produced a deft shot into the corner past a stranded Fyodor Lapoukhov.
Eager to match Hojlund for pace, Dreyer completed his brace with a full 12 minutes of the 90 to play. The San Diego winger attempted to play a cross to Jonas Wind, only for a green shirt to deflect the ball off the latter and back into Dreyer’s path, enabling him to fire into the far corner, despite Lapoukhov getting fingers to his shot.
It was just another example of the gulf that separates the World Cup regulars from the qualification fodder, and – after they were denied a penalty by VAR – merely another day at the office for Brian Riemer’s men, who have now gone four games without conceding for the first time since October 2021.