Australia, Denmark qualify for World Cup
Captain Mile Jedinak led the way with a second-half hat-trick as Australia brushed aside Honduras 3-1 in the second leg of their intercontinental playoff on Wednesday to secure a place at next year’s World Cup finals.
The midfielder settled his compatriots’ nerves with a deflected free kick and two penalties to give Australia a comfortable aggregate victory after the 0-0 draw in the first leg last week.
Honduras was bidding for a third successive World Cup appearance, but barely threatened the Australia goal until winger Alberth Elis scrambled the ball over the line in stoppage time.
It will be a fourth straight appearance at the World Cup finals, and fifth in total, for Asian champion Australia, which played 22 matches over 29 months to achieve its goal.
“It’s unreal,” Jedinak said. “We knew it was always going to be a difficult qualifying campaign but this makes it very, very special.”
It remains to be seen if Ange Postecoglou will lead the squad to Russia but he was not about to spoil a party that started with a barrage of fireworks over Sydney harbor as soon as the final whistle sounded.
“Tonight is just about enjoying it... what happens beyond here can be picked up tomorrow,” said the coach, who was reported by local media to be considering his position.”
Meanwhile, Denmark’s hat-trick hero Christian Eriksen said his performance in the Danes’ 5-1 demolition of Ireland on Tuesday would be life-changing after they booked a ticket to next year’s World Cup.
The midfield maestro, who had missed a couple of decent chances in the goalless playoff first leg, made no mistake in the Dublin return as his treble put the Irish to the sword.
“It’s incredible to take your country to the World Cup with three goals in a playoff,” said 25-year-old Eriksen. “It’s going to mean a lot throughout my career, throughout my whole life, really. It’s a big thing and I’m very happy about it.”
The Danes also benefitted from an Andreas Christensen goal, that canceled out Shane Duffy’s early header for Ireland, and a late Nicklas Bendtner penalty, but Eriksen stole the show.
Despite the plaudits of his teammates and his central role in the victory, Eriksen was his usual humble self.
“It’s a crazy feeling, we’ve been fighting together for so long since the qualification started,” he said.
Eriksen, who has scored 21 times in 75 internationals, said there were more goals to come from Denmark in Russia.
“We’ll take this with us and try to score as many goals as possible at the World Cup as well,” said the midfielder, who doused former international defender Lars Jacobsen, who was broadcasting for Danish TV, with champagne as he celebrated.
(Reuters)