Denmark 3
Larsen 10, 47; Agger 29 pen.
Malta 0
All the talk in the run-up to Malta's third match of their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, an away assignment against Denmark, had been on national coach Dusan Fitzel and his startling declaration that he'd be pleased with a defeat of minus four goals.
If Fitzel's comments were meant as a rallying call for his beleaguered troops is debatable but judging by Malta's error-strewn performance, especially in the first half, the coach's words didn't have an uplifting effect on his players.
Buoyed by their 3-2 away win against Portugal, Denmark lay into Malta from the outset, their fast-paced and sprightly start providing an early omen of the challenge the visitors faced.
That Denmark would try to 'kill us', as Fitzel himself warned before the match, was not a surprise but despite the difficulty of Malta's task, we expected our team to produce a spirited performance.
This was not forthcoming as Malta's display yesterday was, yes committed as usual, but abject in terms of creativity and attacking verve as the Danes dictated matters for long spells, ripping our team apart with fast attacks, especially down the flanks.
Michael Mifsud, Malta's attacking spearhead, cut a lonely figure as his team-mates spent most of the game playing catch-up. Here, Fitzel's decision to persevere with players like Ian Azzopardi, who had a torrid evening on the left, Jonathan Caruana, who struggled on the right, and Ivan Woods, who toiled ineffectively in the middle, was hard to fathom.
In the end, Denmark ran out 3-0 winners, so Fitzel ought to be satisfied as his team avoided a loss of tennistic proportions but if the Czech were to be honest with himself, he would concede that the margin of defeat would have been far greater but for a string of fine interventions from goalkeeper Justin Haber whose display was one of the very few positives for Malta ahead of Wednesday's home clash with Hungary.
On this evidence, Malta would need something of a mini-miracle to open their account against the Hungarians.
The Parken Stadium had been transformed into a sea of red and white as the two teams emerged from the dressing rooms for kick-off. Pre-match formalities took longer than usual as the Danish FA presented flowers to the now-retired Thomas Helveg and a host of other current players in recognition for their service to the national team.
Fitzel's selection featured three alterations from his formation for last month's 3-0 defeat to Albania.
Young defender Caruana, left-back Azzopardi and midfielder Woods represented the three changes in Fitzel's line-up yesterday. Etienne Barbara and Shaun Bajada had to be content with a place on the bench after both started the Albania qualifier while Kevin Sammut was not included in the 18-man squad as he is still recuperating from injury.
Caruana started on the right of a four-man defence that was manned by Luke Dimech, Aaron Xuereb and Azzopardi.
In central midfield, Fitzel kept faith with the experienced Gilbert Agius, the Malta captain, and Jamie Pace, Roderick Briffa was deployed on the right of midfield and Andrè Schembri on the left. Malta's formation had Mifsud at its attacking fulcrum with Woods just behind him.
Injuries deprived Denmark coach Morten Olsen of his two attacking pillars, Arsenal's Nicklas Bendtner and Jon-Dahl Tomasson who were replaced by Morten Nordstrand and Soren Larsen..
The match was just over a minute old when Dimech blocked a potentially dangerous header from Larsen who had been picked out by Thomas Rasmussen.
Denmark were all over Malta in the initial exchanges. Haber, the Malta goalkeeper, did well to fist away a menacing drive by Daniel Jensen and from the rebound, Rommedahl skied his shot wide.
Haber could do nothing to stop Denmark taking the lead when Dimech's hurried clearance from the back was deflected into the path of Larsen who sidestepped Xuereb before flicking a low shot past the on-rushing Malta goalkeeper.
Larsen would have doubled Denmark's advantage on 13 minutes but a magnificent save by Haber. The Toulouse forward had stormed into the Maltese box to make first-time contact with a teasing right-wing cross from Kasper Bogelund but his point-blank effort was pushed onto the post by Haber.
Olsen had signalled his attacking intentions by opting on a three-pronged attack of Nordstrand, Rommedahl and Larsen. The home team threatened again on 18 minutes as another low cross by the overlapping Bogelund wrought havoc in the Maltese defence but Thomas Kahlenberg hit just wide.
The tempo of Denmark's game and the quick, intelligent movement of their forwards was causing Malta all sorts of problems in those early stages.
On 28 minutes, Malta's predicament deepened when Georgian referee Levan Paniashvili awarded Denmark a penalty after ruling that Agius had illegitimately shackled Daniel Agger in the box during a corner action. The Liverpool defender drilled a low shot to Haber's right to make it 2-0 for the Danes.
It wasn't before the 32nd minute that Malta created a glimmer of a scoring chance when Agius's cross from a left-wing free-kick reached Woods at the far post but the latter directed his header wide.
Outclassed and outran by their opponents, Malta survived another tense moment when Larsen curled the ball wide with only Haber to beat. This came on 36 minutes. Moments later, Nordstrand slipped a through-ball to Rommedahl who strode dangerously towards the Maltese goal and past Haber but Xuereb came rushing back to deflect the ball away for a corner.
The second half had only just started when Denmark tripled their lead, Larsen heading past Haber at the far post after another excellent cross by Bogelund.
With the Maltese players reduced to chasing figures, only an excellent double save by Haber prevented Denmark from adding to their lead as the Malta keeper pushed away strong headers by Agger and Poulsen in quick succession.
Rommedahl had the ball in the net on 66 minutes but the 'goal' was ruled out for offside.
A few minutes earlier, Fitzel had made his first substitution, bringing on Barbara for Schembri.
With 17 minutes remaining, a rare cross by Jamie Pace was diverted towards Briffa in the Danish box but the Malta midfielder hit over the bar from an inviting position.
In the latter stages, Martin Laursen came close to extending Denmark's advantage but his overhead kick was headed away by Xuereb. Haber then warded off another menacing cross by Bogelund before coming out to block a run by Nordstrand.
Denmark
T. Sorensen, C. Poulsen, M. Laursen, D. Agger, T. Rasmussen, K. Bogelund, D. Jensen ('82 T. Kristensen), T. Kahlenberg ('60 M. Krohn-Dehli), M. Nordstrand, D. Rommedahl, S. Larsen ('76 M.D. Rasmussen).
Malta
J. Haber, J. Caruana, I. Azzopardi, L. Dimech, G. Agius ('80 U. Nwoko), R. Briffa, M. Mifsud ('87 T. Scerri), I. Woods, A. Schembri ('60 E. Barbara), A. Xuereb, J. Pace.
Referee: Levan Paniashvili.
Yellow cards: Agius; Xuereb.
Attendance: 33,124
Malta players' ratings: Haber-7, Caruana-4, Azzopardi-4, Dimech-5.5, Agius-5.5, Briffa-6, Mifsud-5, Woods-4, Schembri-4, Xuereb-5, Pace-6.5.
Subs: Barbara-4, Nwoko, Scerri.