We can be GREAT against the DANES
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THE Green Army frantically began plotting their dash to Denmark yesterday after the draw for the World Cup play-offs.
Martin O’neill’s men will play the first leg in Copenhagen on Saturday, November 11 – with the second to take place in Dublin three days later. Thousands of die-hard Irish fans are expected to make the trip to the Danish capital to support the Boys in Green as they battle it out for a place in Russia. There was a positive reaction when Ireland avoided what looked to be the toughest possible opponents – four-time winners Italy and a tricky Croatian side. The manager said he was pleased to avoid Italy and delighted Ireland will play the crucial deciding second leg at the Aviva Stadium, but stressed it will be a “difficult game”. He said: “I am hoping that [the home second leg] could have a big bearing on proceedings but we have to be going to Dublin with something to play for. “You don’t want to be out of the tie before that game takes place.” Ireland fans will be able to buy tickets for the home leg of the huge clash from Friday, while official supporters’ clubs and sports travel agents remain the best bet for the away fixture. Robbie Sinnott of Abbey Travel, the FAI’S official partner, said they were flooded with calls and emails yesterday as fans looked to book up weekend packages and day trips. He told the Irish Mirror: “Since Cardiff everybody’s been waiting on this, so there’s huge interest. Obviously it’s the biggest game Ireland have had for many years. “We’ll have day-trip packages and then because it’s a Saturday it’s perfect. We’ll be doing a weekend trip and people going over early on Saturday, going to the match, staying over on Saturday night and then home on Sunday. “So we’ll have weekend and day trips, combinations, fully inclusive of flights, transfers, accommodation in the city centre, match tickets, the full package.” Robbie expects the company will be able to offer fans packages with flights, accommodation and a match ticket for around €500 to €600. He said they were still in discussions with the FAI and flight operators last night, but he expects they will have a large number of packages available. He added: “Whatever number we have it’s likely to sell out pretty quickly. “Our trip to Cardiff sold out months in advance and tickets were a problem there because of the small stadium [and 3,200 away allocation]. “So this stadium’s not much bigger at 38,000 and it’s supply and demand. “We will sell out very quickly once we put it on sale. We hope to put it
on sale today. People have registered their interest already on our website so we’ve sent them out an email newsletter and it’ll tell them what time the packages are going to go on sale.” Meanwhile, flight prices from Dublin to Copenhagen rocketed in the minutes after the draw was made shortly after 1pm yesterday. The cheapest direct return flights on the Skyscanner website at 1.15pm were priced at €260, despite just five minutes earlier being available for €150 return with one low-cost airline. And by 3pm most flights were priced well over €300 with a stopover required via London, Amsterdam or Frankfurt on many routes for the same dates. Those who left it until 3.30pm to book were looking at options such as a €370 return flight from Dublin via Amsterdam to Copenhagen with Dutch airline KLM or a €350 British Airways flight from Dublin to Copenhagen return via London Heathrow. Irish fans can expect to pay on average €115 per person for a double room in Copenhagen for two nights accommodation, arriving the day before the big match and checking out the day after. The cheapest double room on Booking. com last night was the Zleep Hotel Copenhagen Airport which cost €203 for two nights and is three miles from the centre. Meanwhile, other affordable options included the Cabinn Express where a double room was priced at €255, just one mile from the centre in Frederiksberg, and the Wakeup Copenhagen hotel where a double room was €269 in the city centre for two nights. Meanwhile, Irish fans who travel to Copenhagen could be forgiven for mistaking a Danish player for one of their own with a name like Thomas Joseph Delaney. The 26-year-old is a highly-rated midfielder but unfortunately his Irish roots date back to the 18th century when his ancestors emigrated to New York before a section of the family relocated to Scandinavia. Everton were linked with a move for the Werder Bremen star in January. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland will come up against Switzerland as Michael O’neill’s side also look to book their own ticket to Russia.