You know what they say about karma. And it always collects, too. Almost 40 games into World Cup 2018 and nary a game has passed without some kind of drama or hook or je ne sais quoi, so it was about time we had a real stinker. While Group A had a perfect build to a fun pay off, Group C’s climax – a clash between first placed France and second placed Denmark – showed that not everyone was reading from the same script, even if the game in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium could not have been more predictable.

When Uruguay met Russia, both sides had something to prove – both to themselves and each other. Cavani and Suarez had to get their beaks wet and prove they were better than the official worst team in the tournament; the official worst team in the tournament had to prove they weren’t (and, in many respects, completely failed even if they did go through to the round of 16). Neither France nor Denmark appear to have anything to prove to anybody, especially not to each other.

Within minutes of kick off, the complete lack of tension in the arena was palpable. The fans on both sides, as well as neutrals, were tepid at best, simply happy to see their heroes in an actual live World Cup fixture. Not that either side did anything to make the crowd go wild. Rarely has the game of everywhere-on-Earth football so closely resembled American football: France ran up the pitch and Djibril Sibide shot, missed, and the game ran the other way ending with a half-hearted penalty attempt and a corner for Denmark, which went wide.

The game kept this scintillating tenor for most of the first half. While the gist was that France was safe, but a loss for Denmark at their hands and a win for Australia would see the Socceroos going through instead of the Danish Dynamite, the men in red never seemed particularly concerned with this scenario. Although both of the final group games have been played at the same time to avoid a repeat of the Disgrace of Gijon in 1982, in which West Germany let Austria score because a 1-0 win to them would see both going through, it felt like France and Denmark had made a similar pact.

As if the game could not be less competitive, a little after 20 minutes in, news that Peru had gone 1-0 up against Australia in Sochi must have reached the players as the pace slowed considerably. For what it’s worth, the half-hearted chances that sporadically appeared in the beginning were at least chances, now France appeared to be keeping hold of the ball for the sake of it, passing around and around until a gap appeared in the Danish defense large enough to drive a bus through. Even then, the French finished with the focus usually reserved for a Gallic shrug as Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann repeatedly blasted the ball into low orbit.

With nothing changed on either side, the second half continued exactly like the first. Around the hour mark, the magic was almost ruined as Denmark accidentally came close to scoring a goal. Christian Eriksen took a shot from clearly too far out and the reverse psychology caused Steve Mandanda, France’s backup goalkeeper, to fumble the ball. If Andreas Cornelius had any intention of making it 1-0, he could easily have tapped it in, instead he stumbled and Mandanda collected it safely. The crowd should have been impressed, but this deep in, they realized the fix was in and started booing and jeering – if only they were in Sochi, where Peru had made it 2-0.

With 20 minutes remaining, everyone stopped pretending for a moment. Giroud suffered a knock and hobbled off to get treatment; it wasn’t important enough to French manager Didier Deschamps to sub him off nor was it enough for the referee to blow his whistle and call for the ball to go out of play, yet the Danish held the ball until he came back. Denmark’s fans tried to sing over the boos of the neutral fans but judging from the cutaways to the crowd, the fans of Les Bleus had given up completely and sat there totally unimpressed, waiting for the sweet release of death.

After a merciless three minutes of extra time, the match ended and both teams progressed to the round of 16. France, who up to this point were full of vim and vigor, will fancy their chances against whoever finishes second in Group D regardless of if it’s Nigeria, Iceland or Argentina – in fact, they probably hope Argentina find a Messi miracle so they can relish murdering his World Cup dreams for good. Denmark, on the other hand, are all but guaranteed to face Croatia and will have been glad for the rest as they will definitely need it.