Confident Bendtner insists the Danes are prepared for every eventuality in Dublin
NICKLAS Bendtner has warned the Republic of Ireland that Denmark will be ready to go all the way to the wire to keep their World Cup dreams alive.
The Danes will arrive in Dublin on Tuesday evening having been booed off by sections of the home crowd at the Parken Stadium on Saturday night after the Republic frustrated them for 90 minutes to snatch a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their winnertakes-all play-off. One way or another, there has to be a winner at the Aviva Stadium and Bendtner insists he and his team-mates will fight to the death to secure their ticket to Russia.
The 29-year-old Rosenborg striker said: “We’re going down there to try to win the match. I can’t say what’s going to happen, but we’re prepared to play 120 minutes if that’s what it takes. I think it will be a different match. They know that they can’t play a match where they have to stay so deep. They know that they have to come out and try to score, so I think it’s going to be a little bit more open.
“They will come more out, which allows us to get more space. It will be a more interesting match.”
If some of the locals among a crowd of 36,189 were less than impressed on the final whistle, Bendtner was not too downhearted.
He said: “The goal for us was to win the match, 100 per cent. We also had the best chances and with a little bit more luck, we could have scored one. But we maybe have a slight advantage in that if both teams score a goal, we will be the ones who go through.”
The Republic’s approach in Copenhagen was pragmatic to say the least with lone striker Daryl Murphy handed the thankless task of trying to battle the home defence with little support before Shane Long took up the baton.
Bendtner, who played under manager Martin O’Neill at Sunderland, is expecting more of the same at the Aviva. He said: “Ireland didn’t really surprise us. Maybe we thought they would come more out of the blocks and try to attack more.” HALFWAY there. Now to try crossing the halfway line.
Cyrus Christie is one player who could argue with that assessment of the Republic of Ireland’s input into Saturday’s first leg in Copenhagen.
After all, he came closest to an Irish goal, in a rare break from the diligent defending that made it a tedious 90-minute exercise for the viewing public.
However, regular observers of this team knew that the brief in Parken Stadium was to stay alive; it was never going to be pretty.
And to a new audience, the perception was that it was the first 50% of a masterplan.
The taxi driver on the late run from the ground hailed Martin O’Neill’s organisational abilities, feeling that the Republic had laid the groundwork to get the job done in Dublin.
This is where the Irish regulars step forward to point out that it won’t be that straightforward.
The Republic’s World Cup campaign has taken them to Belgrade, Chisinau, Vienna, Tbilisi, Cardiff and Copenhagen and they have escaped without a defeat. Three wins, three draws.
“We’ve been unbeaten away and we’ve kept another clean sheet. We’ve picked up results,” said Christie (below).
In Dublin, it’s been a bit more of a drag, although the right back contested that point.
“I don’t see that our home form has been bad,” he said.
“We’ve been in these situations before and we’ve risen to the occasion.”
However, a year has passed since James McClean’s winner in Vienna and the main line from management in the aftermath was that the team’s fate would be settled by the big games in Ballsbridge.
At that juncture, top spot was the aim. Wales, Austria and Serbia still had to come to town.
The Republic took two points from a possible nine, with alateequaliser from Jon Walters the only goal, and needed a ballsy effort away to the Welsh to stay in the competition.
Danish manager Age Hareide made it clear that he felt an away goal for his side would put them well on the way to Russia.
“Ireland would need to score two goals then and they don’t score two goals many times,” he pointed out.
With all due respect to Moldova, the last time that the Republic hit that figure in a high stakes home match was the second leg of the Euro 2016 play-off with Bosnia.
That was the precedent to which Christie was referring and it has to be the template for tomorrow night’s display.
The Republic did go into that match with the security of an away goal in a 1-1 draw, but they convincingly won the Aviva clash 2-0.
There are no permutations to consider against Denmark; no need to discuss whether this fixture is a must-win or not.
In the earlier Aviva games this year, the Republic had the security of knowing that a point might be alright in the