The Tottenham midfielder put the Danes ahead with just over half an hour gone in Aarhus, and Eriksen added a second on 63 minutes from the penalty spot after Ethan Ampadu handled in the area.
Age Hareide’s Denmark go top of a group that also includes the Republic of Ireland, who were routed 4-1 by Wales in their opening game on Thursday. Danish preparations were hit by a standoff between their players’ union and the country’s football association (DBU) over commercial rights.
The issue led to Denmark fielding a team comprised of lower-league and futsal players in Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to Slovakia, but both sides reached a one-match truce to ensure a full-strength squad would face Wales.
Ryan Giggs’ men suffered a hitch of their own when a technical problem with their plane severely delayed their arrival in Denmark, and forced the cancellation of a pre-match press conference. Thomas Delaney almost produced a sensational opening goal midway through the first half when the Borussia Dortmund midfielder’s superb volley from a corner whistled fractionally wide of the post.
Gareth Bale, on target in the win over the Irish in Cardiff, then drove just beyond Kasper Schmeichel’s left-hand post after the Real Madrid star was given space to run at centre-back Simon Kjaer. Eriksen broke the deadlock with a well-taken effort on 32 minutes, picking up a pass from Henrik Dalsgaard and taking a touch to set himself before stroking low beyond the outstretched arm of Wayne Hennessey.
The Crystal Palace goalkeeper pulled off a marvellous flying stop to deny Pione Sisto soon after, Hennessey launching himself to his left to claw behind a vicious half-volley. Connor Roberts and Aaron Ramsey saw efforts blocked in the Danish area after the ball pinged off several players, while Martin Braithwaite dragged an effort wide after evading a host of Welsh challenges.
Eriksen effectively ended Wales’ hopes of earning anything from their trip to Scandinavia when he blasted home from the spot after Ampadu handled Viktor Fischer’s cross. A deflected Bale strike nearly gave the visitors a lifeline in the closing stages but a scrambling Schmeichel turned behind, with only a reflex save from Hennessey preventing Delaney from increasing the damage for Denmark.
Earlier, Andriy Yarmolenko’s penalty earned Ukraine a narrow 1-0 win over Slovakia for their second win in four days. Ukraine top League B Group 1 after beating Czech Republic on Thursday and seeing off Slovakia in Lviv, putting themselves in a commanding position for promotion to the top tier.
A tight match was decided when Milan Skriniar tripped Viktor Tsygankov in the area to concede a penalty in the 80th minute. West Ham midfielder Yarmolenko beat Martin Dubravka, who got a hand to his effort, from the spot for his seventh goal in Ukraine’s last nine competitive home matches.
In Group C3 Radoslav Vasilev’s 59th minute goal helped Bulgaria see off Norway 1-0, with the visitors seeing Havard Nordveit sent off on a disappointing afternoon. Georgia beat Latvia 1-0 in Group D1 while Macedonia eased past Armenia 2-0 to move top of Group D4 with two wins from two games.
On Saturday, Liverpool winger Xherdan Shaqiri was among the scorers as Switzerland routed Iceland 6-0 in their opening game. Steven Zuber and Denis Zakaria gave Switzerland a two-goal lead before Shaqiri fired in a free-kick from a tight angle out on the right on 53 minutes.
Goals from Haris Seferovic, Albian Ajeti and Admir Mehmedi completed the resounding win as Switzerland made a dream start to a group that also includes World Cup semi-finalists Belgium. Iceland host Italy in Reykjavik tomorrow, while Switzerland play England in a friendly in Leicester.
Results from the
second round of matches
League B: Group 1: At Lviv Ukraine 1 (Yarmolenko 80-pen) Slovakia 0
Group 4: At Aarhus, Denmark: Denmark 2 (Eriksen 32, 63-pen) Wales 0
League C: Group 3: At Sofia: Bulgaria 1 (Vasilev 58) Norway 0
League D: Group 1: At Tbilisi: Georgia 1 (Okriashvili 77-pen) Latvia 0; Group 4: At Skopje: Macedonia 2 (Alioski 14-pen, Pandev 59) Armenia 0; At Vaduz: Liechtenstein v Gibraltar (1845 GMT)