Armenia shock for fancied Denmark

Ibrahimovic strikes as Sweden stutter to victory

Armenia’s Yura Movsisyan scored twice as his unfancied side handed Denmark a shock 4-0 home defeat in their World Cup Group B qualifier on Tuesday, leaving the hosts struggling to qualify for Brazil.

“It’s the worst night of my footballing life,” Denmark coach Morten Olsen told Denmark's TV2 in an interview.

“It's incomprehensible that we couldn't perform better, but it's 100 percent my fault.
“There was a lot that went wrong, no-one hit top form,” added Olsen, who has coached the national side for almost 13 years. “I don't really want to analyse it. It simply wasn't good enough.”

The Danish nightmare started after 27 seconds when Movsisyan fired home following a mistake by defender Simon Kjaer.

Kjaer was again the villain as Armenia doubled their lead in the 19th minute, keeping the Armenians onside as Aras Ozbiliz fired home.

Spartak Moscow striker Movsisyan netted his second on the hour mark and the Danes looked down and out, failing to create and looking vulnerable on the break as their normally slick passing touch deserted them.

With the Danes pouring aimlessly forward in search of a goal, Armenia's Henrikh Mkhitaryan added a late fourth -- his goal ironically applauded by the Danish fans.
The heavy home defeat leaves Denmark in fifth place on six points, level with Armenia in fourth.

Italy lead the group on 14 points, with Bulgaria in second on 10 points and the Czech Republic a point further back in third after six of 10 matches.

The group winners in Europe qualify directly for the 2014 finals in Brazil with the second-placed sides going into the play-offs.

With a contract that runs until 2014 but his side now unlikely to make Brazil, Olsen would not be drawn on whether he would consider resigning.

“I have no comment on that, as I'm sure you can understand. We are all very disappointed and we have to go home and analyse what went wrong,” he said.

Two goals from captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic helped stuttering Sweden to an unconvincing 2-0 win over the Faroe Islands in their Group C World Cup qualifier in Stockholm.

Sweden had no shortage of possession but struggled to penetrate the massed ranks of the Faroese defence, with the home side taking over 20 minutes to register an effort on target.

Ibrahimovic broke the deadlock in the 35th minute, first playing Mikael Lustig free on the right before meeting the full-back's deflected cross with a thumping left-foot volley from close range.

The hosts continued to waste their chances until the Sweden captain then struck his 41st international goal from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute after he was bundled over in the box.

The result leaves Sweden in third place on 11 points, behind Austria and ahead of Ireland on goal difference. Germany lead the group with 16 points from their six games.