Ireland will need to combat Danes’ craft and graft
THERE are some striking similarities between recent events in Danish football which binds it with this country.
No sooner had Denmark been drawn against the Republic of Ireland in next month’s World Cup play-off, then they were pushed off the main news agenda when the story broke that the women’s national team was going on strike following the collapse of talks with their association as they sought parity of wages with their male counterparts.
After Norway became the first country to establish an equal pay scale, the Danish women pressed their case for the same but when it wasn’t forthcoming they made it clear that they would not take part in tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier with Sweden. Drastic measures for basic rights. It is something their counterparts here in Ireland can relate to after they fought for better conditions with the FAI earlier this year. They are still some way off, though, seeing as one of their main gripes was not being allowed keep their own tracksuit after games.
And then there was the drama of a Danish Cup tie just this week when a replay was ordered after the referee in charge of the tie between a top flight and second division team was unaware of the correct regulations for the penalty shootout — he went with the new ABBA approach being tested elsewhere as opposed to the traditional ABAB where opposing players follow each other.
If anything, it shows the League of Ireland does not quite hold a monopoly on farcical events.
But when it comes to the Danish outfit Ireland are going to have to overcome to reach the World Cup in next month’s play-off, manager Age Hareide has them ship shape and ready to go.
Martin O’Neill already revealed that the pair go way back to their days as players at Manchester and Norwich City, when the Derryman even rented a house to his teammate, but their paths have crossed plenty of times since.
Hareide is a Scottish football fanatic who fell in love with the game by watching the Lisbon Lions on their way to lifting the European Cup 50 years ago. He then followed O’Neill’s Celtic team in the Noughties and when the Derry man moved back to England to become manager of Aston Villa, the pair were in more regular contact as Hareide was the Norway boss at the time and striker John Carew was at the club.
That relationship forms just part of the backdrop to this intriguing play-off which, on the whole, both countries will be perfectly happy with.
While this is O’Neill’s second campaign qualifying campaign, Hareide only took over from legendary former manager Morton Olsen in December 2015 after he decided to call it a day on the back of missing out on Euro 2016. Having qualified for two World Cups and two European Championships in the previous 15 years, they were tough boots to fill.
The Norwegian hasn’t been afraid to do things his own way since taking the reins, though, and while Tottenham midfielder Christen Eriksen — top scorer in qualifying with eight goals — is the man who makes them tick in a 4-2-3-1 formation, he is not afraid to turn to brute force when subtlety doesn’t suffice.
Former Cardiff City flop, Andreas Cornelius, all six foot four inches of him, has been used as both the lone front man and also on the wing of the three attackers — as was the case when he scored in the standout 4-0 home win over group winners Poland — while Hareide also opted to bring Nicklas Bendtner back into the squad after a two-year absence.
There is an experienced spine with Kasper Schmeichel in goal, Sevilla centre-back Simon Kjaer captaining the side and 32-yearold Copenhagen midfielder William Kvist closing in on 80 caps for his country. The skill of Eriksen, still just 25, complements the workmanlike approach — although they did concede goals to Kazakhstan, Romania and Montenegro at the Parken Stadium — and Hareide has also overseen an injection of youth to increase excitement.
Thomas Delaney (of very distant Irish stock and not eligible) is at Werder Bremen and has blos-
somed in the middle while Celta Vigo’s Pione Sista, 22, is a stand out talent who offers a direct and tricky approach on either wing.
Kasper Dolberg is the Ajax boy wonder in attack but the 20-yearold has only played a bit part role and 23-year-old Yussuf Poulsen of RB Leipzig is also an attacking option. ‘I know his style, it’s fairly direct, I saw his Malmo team play when I was in the Faroes,’ former Ireland and Faroe Islands manager Brian Kerr says of Hareide.
‘They have a mixed group, similar to us, their players are more spread out, they have more links around Europe, not like us were all our players go and play in England, they have players in Spain, Germany and Italy and have always had those links, going back to the Laudrups and that’s a good mixture.
‘They have Eriksen who is all neat and tidy but Morten Olsen always had a football team but liked a strong centre forward as well, now it’s more more direct but Eriksen is the key man. With Martin’s luck he might miss the match,’ Kerr laughed.
Hareide has torn up the script for the Danish team since arriving so you can be sure he’ll have a plan in place if needs be.