It went down as the one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history. France’s group-stage exit as the holders in 2002 was sealed with a defeat by Denmark and although Les Bleus have ensured there will be no embarrassingly early departure from Russia, the repeat of that fixture on Tuesday has plenty riding on it for the Danes.

Sixteen years after Denmark last reached the knockout stages, at that World Cup in South Korea and Japan, they face France at the Luzhniki Stadium knowing victory would ensure their progress. Åge Hareide’s side have conceded one goal in six matches and are unbeaten in 17 games, although the failure to beat Australia after taking an early lead through Christian Eriksen’s brilliant finish in Samara has left a question mark hanging over them.

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Hareide, a Norwegian who spent three seasons in English football during the early 1980s with Manchester City and Norwich, took over from Morten Olsen in 2015 and has attempted to redefine Denmark’s approach in order to be more effective.

After the retirements of the 1992 European Championship-winning side who featured Peter Schmeichel and Brian Laudrup, Olsen made the most of the steady but unspectacular generation who followed. In 2002 a 2-0 win over France in Incheon courtesy of goals from Dennis Rommedahl and Jon Dahl Tomasson, which meant they topped Group A, was the highlight of his reign, as Denmark were comprehensively beaten by England in the next round.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest France’s Fabien Barthez watches in mid air as Dennis Rommedahl’s shot hits the back of the net to give Denmark the lead. Photograph: Charles Platiau/REUTERS

Aside from a quarter-final appearance at Euro 2004, when they lost 3-0 once again – this time to the Czech Republic – Olsen’s tenure became renowned for their ordinariness as Denmark failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016. His departure after 15 years was greeted with optimism by most supporters and their patience was rewarded with a place in Russia after Eriksen inspired the 5-1 play-off thrashing of the Republic of Ireland in Dublin. Now for the hard part.

France’s narrow victories over Australia and Peru mean the pressure is off Didier Deschamps’ side, although they need a victory to guarantee they win the group and avoid a tie against the likely Group D winners, Croatia, in the next round. But a win for Denmark would mean they leapfrog France and top the group and, with Deschamps expected to rest some of his senior players, Hareide will fancy his chances of causing an upset.

Much will rely on Tottenham’s Eriksen, who has 17 goals in his past 22 games for his country compared with six in 57 matches when Olsen was the manager. In the absence of Yussuf Poulsen, suspended after being booked for conceding a second penalty in as many matches via VAR, Eriksen’s partnership with the Feyenoord striker Nicolai Jørgensen could hold the key to Denmark’s hopes, although Hareide perhaps did not help himself when he suggested fans’ criticism of his side was unfair.

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“I knew it was a picky football country when I arrived because the Danes like to call themselves the Brazilians of Scandinavia,” he said. “I think it’s quite good to be unbeaten in 17 matches, so what do people want? If we had won against Australia, I think people would perhaps still have been critical.”

The punctured lung suffered by William Kvist in the opening match against Peru means Ajax’s Lasse Schöne is, at 32, the oldest player still available for selection and Hareide, who is the only manager to have won the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian league titles, acknowledged the best may be still to come from this squad.

“The situation is a little unusual for some of our players,” he said. “They are young and they are going to learn from this. It is hard mentally and physically to go through this. But I think they have done really well to work hard for the team and have a good morale going into the match against France.”

He will be wary of allowing France’s well-stocked midfield the chance to dominate and has called on his players to show more composure. “We made mistakes against Australia that better teams would punish us for,” he said. “We cannot risk that now. We must be much more alert to France and their counterattacking game. If we make technical mistakes in the final third it will make it too easy for them.”