20-year-old earns perfect 10 rating in World Cup qualification best XI

 

With gameweek two of 2022 World Cup qualifiaction done and dusted, it's time to recap the best of the action from the weekend.

 

As far as results go, there were no real shocks. Spain avoided embarassment by scoring in the last minute to beat Georgia, while Cristiano Ronaldo was left furious after his legitmate goal was not given in Portugal's 2-2 draw with Serbia.


Ireland's defeat to Luxembourg perhaps raised eyebrows the most, as even Frank de Boer's Netherlands picked up three points. The biggest surprise was Erling Haaland again struggling for Norway, as they were thrashed 3-0 at home by Turkey.

 

The big winners were Denmark, who put eight past Moldova on Sunday. Kasper Hjulmand's side were 5-0 up by half-time, so will perhaps be disappointed only to have netted three more after the break.

 

20-year-old earns perfect 10 rating in World Cup qualification best XI

 

Given such a wide margin of victory for Denmark, it's no surprise they dominate our team of the week, making up almost half the spots with five representatives. 20-year-old Mikkel Damsgaard also claimed the player of the week award, turning in a perfect WhoScored 10 display. Here we run through the top 5 performers from the weekend, starting in reverse order.

 

5) Artem Dzyuba (Russia) - 9.02 rating

 

Artem Dzyuba has made a fantastic start to World Cup qualifiaction, following up a goal and assist showing in Russia's first game with a match-winning brace against Slovenia on Saturday. The 32-year-old actually misses out on a place in our best rated XI with two other strikers performing even better than the Zenit ace over the weekend.

 

4) Kasper Dolberg (Denmark) - 9.33 rating

 

One of those strikers is Kasper Dolberg. The 23-year-old has endured a tough season with Nice but helped himself to a brace in Denmark's 8-0 demoliton of Moldova on Sunday, ending a run of 14 matches without a goal for club and country.

 

3) Memphis Depay (Netherlands) - 9.34 rating

 

Pushed out to the wing to accomodate for Luuk de Jong against Latvia, Memphis Depay also misses out on a place in our best rated XI to player of the week Damsgaard. Memphis is still looking for his first goal of qualification after missing a penalty against Turkey in their opening game but has at least registered an assist in each match. Against Latvia, the 27-year-old had 10 shots, registered seven key passes and completed as many dribbles.

 

20-year-old earns perfect 10 rating in World Cup qualification best XI

 

2) Aleksandar Trajkovski (North Macedonia) - 9.57 rating

 

North Macedonia bounced back from a 3-2 loss to Romania with a massive 5-0 win over Liechtenstein on Sunday - their biggest competitive win since beating the same opponents 11-1 back in 1996. Aleksandar Trajkovski scored in defeat to Romania and also bagged a brace in their big victory at the weekend. As well as scoring twice from three attempts, the Mallorca striker registered one key pass and completed five dribbles before coming off just after the hour mark.

 

1) Mikkel Damsgaard (Denmark) - 10 rating

 

Certainly the best individual performance of qualification thus far, Sampdoria's Mikkel Damsgaard garnered a perfect 10 rating after playing a direct hand in half of Denmark's eight-goal haul against Moldova. The 20-year-old grabbed a brace of goals and assists to cap a dream competitive debut for his country. Damsgaard had six attempts in total and also registered four key passes.

 

20-year-old earns perfect 10 rating in World Cup qualification best XI