- Ben Blake reports from Copenhagen
WHEN IRELAND’S YOUTHFUL winger Callum O’Dowda was asked this week for his earliest memory of the World Cup, the reply he gave was far from satisfactory for those present.
“I’d probably say the one in South Africa,” the 22-year-old and youngest member of the current squad answered, after a brief pause.
“I remember coming home from school and watching the games.”
Left a little bewildered by news that a current player has no recollection of the country’s last appearance at a finals (or even the tournament four years on in Germany, for that matter), O’Dowda’s admission suddenly drove home just how long it has been since our nation last reached the holy grail of international football.
While qualification to the two most recent European championships has allowed Irish fans a return to the big stage — where they feel they belong — three unsuccessful World Cup qualification campaigns on the trot mean younger supporters are still waiting to experience the euphoric scenes witnessed in 1990, 1994 or 2002.
Now, 15 years on from an eventful summer in South Korea & Japan, opportunity raises its head once again for the Boys in Green. Granted, we’ve been here before and fallen at the final hurdle more times than we’ve scaled it but this can be different.
Denmark was the draw Ireland had hoped for and while the task won’t be easy, it’s certainly achievable.
There was a friendly tone to the Denmark pre-match press conference yesterday as their affable Norwich manager Age Hareide told stories of the days when he was Martin O’Neill’s lodger during their time playing together with Norwich City.
The two players sitting alongside him, Kasper Schmeichel and danger man Christian Eriksen, spoke respectfully about their latest opponents in perfect English, while Hareide rightly stated his old team-mate’s gameplan would be “easy to read but difficult to beat”.
Ireland’s style of play may be predictable, but world champions Germany, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Austria and Wales weren’t able to nullify it despite knowing well what to expect in recent times.
They can try,” was Robbie Brady’s answer after it was put to him whether the Danish players would be able to break Ireland’s strong team spirit. “But we’ll see tomorrow night. We’re ready, we’ve done our homework and we’re prepared.”
O’Neill’s pre-match preparations have actually come into question of late with ex-Ireland number one Shay Given admitting to Richie Sadlier on Second Captains last week that they will have done little on their own shape or how best to play against Denmark’s system in the build-up.
Defender Shane Duffy — a colossus at the back for club and country this season — also spoke about how few instructions his fellow Derry man gives before a match, during a recent interview with Jonathan Liew in the Independent.
“He doesn’t really say much,” Duffy replied, when asked what was said in the dressing room prior to last month’s win over Wales in Cardiff.
“He [O'Neill] kept mentioning how big the World Cup was. ‘If you don’t realise how big the World Cup is, you’re in the wrong sport, and you’re one game away from a chance to go there.’
“He kept mentioning that, and everyone got on board. I think we wanted it a little bit more than they did on the night.”
In an age when managers like Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino insist on controlling every little detail right down to the brand of detergent used on his squad’s kits, it seems an extremely old school approach. But the results speak for themselves.
As the legions of Ireland supporters flooded into Copenhagen over the past two days — with an estimated total of around 8,000 expected to arrive — the hunt for tickets for tonight’s first leg has been hotting up.
Parken Stadium, which resembles a block of offices from the outside, sits on the edge of a common in the Indre Osterbro district known as Faelledparken.
The home of FC Copenhagen holds a capacity of 38,000, but only 2,305 tickets have been officially allocated to visiting fans and the Danish football association (DBU) officials have warned Ireland fans against attempting to purchase tickets in the home section.
There have even been stories of tickets being cancelled if it is suspected that the holder is Irish, with the DBU instructing the buyer to confirm their birthplace and address otherwise the booking will be revoked with no refund given.
Next highest on the priority list of travelling fans this weekend has been the mission to find a reasonably-priced pint in the notoriously expensive Scandinavian city. While some told tales of parting company with the equivalent of €11, a couple of the Irish bars have generously been serving drinks at a discounted €4.50.
Alternatively, you can purchase a six-pack of Tuborg’s Julebryg for just 65 krone (€8.70) in the local corner shop. The Christmas beer, “a bottom-fermented wiener beer brewed on lager, münchener, caramel malt, and added English liquorice”, even has its own holiday known as ‘J-day’ — celebrated across Denmark on the first Friday of November. A week too early for us, sadly.
This time of the year has been significant in O’Neill’s Ireland career too. He and his management team celebrated four years in the job last week, while Robbie Brady’s goal in the fog of Zenica will be two years ago this Monday.
Let’s add one more anniversary to that list tonight.
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