It took 53 seconds on Tuesday for Denmark to fully understand what it means to play Tunisia in Qatar. Fifty-three seconds for their most emblematic player to be stripped of the ball, and for the crowd to revel in a fashion usually reserved for goal celebrations.
Aïssa Laïdouni, who had just slid straight through Christian Eriksen, raised his arms in victory and thrice thumped his chest so hard it looked like it hurt. The midfielder had won the ball cleanly but he had also been bellicose about it, playing up to 25,000 receptive spectators, doing the gladiator thing.
