Schmeichel's Denmark Make Winning World Cup Start
- Kasper Schmeichel’s Denmark defeated Peru 1-0 at Mordovia Arena in Russia
- The Leicester City goalkeeper made several saves to kept a clean sheet
- Christian Cueva missed a penalty for Peru on the stroke of half-time
The stopper completed 90 minutes as a Yussuf Poulsen strike in the 59th minute was enough for Denmark to secure three points in their first Group C fixture on Saturday evening.
Schmeichel, who was playing at the finals of a major international tournament for the first time, made a number of important saves as the Danes held on for victory.
Peru's Christian Cueva failed to beat Schmeichel from a penalty in the 45th minute, as his effort from 12 yards flew over the bar.
City's goalkeeper denied Peru forward Edison Flores immediately after Poulsen's opener, and made an impressive goal line save from Jefferson Farfan with just six minutes remaining.
Fantastic to start the @fifaworldcup with a win #WorldCup #ForDanmark pic.twitter.com/kcjfAG8u3I
— Kasper Schmeichel (@kschmeichel1) June 16, 2018
It's five consecutive international clean sheets for Schmeichel, who also earned his 34th cap for Denmark during the victory over Peru.
The win puts Denmark in second place in Group C behind France, who beat Australia 2-1 earlier in the day.
Denmark play their second Group C match on Thursday at 1pm against Australia at Samara Arena.
Wilfred Ndidi played 90 minutes for Nigeria on Saturday night as they lost 2-0 to Croatia at Kaliningrad Stadium in their first Group D encounter.
Ahmed Musa came off the bench for the Super Eagles after 62 minutes, while Kelechi Iheanacho was introduced with 17 minutes left to play. For the first time, there were three City stars on the pitch at once at a World Cup.
Nigeria play Iceland next in Friday's 4pm kick-off at the Volgograd Arena.
Adrien Silva and Ricardo Pereira were unused substitutes in Portugal's 3-3 draw with Spain on Friday evening at Fisht Stadium.
Next up for Portugal is their second Group B game of the World Cup against Morocco in Wednesday's 1pm match at Luzhniki Stadium.