- Ben Blake reports from Copenhagen
IN THE RUN-UP to last night’s World Cup play-off first leg, Denmark manager Age Hareide labelled Ireland “easy to read but difficult to beat”.
That prediction wasn’t far off as the sides played out a scoreless draw in Copenhagen, with the visitors content to sit back and invite pressure on.
Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner, who was introduced in the second half, expected a negative gameplan from the Boys in Green but says he was struck by how keen they were to give back possession.
“Ireland didn’t really surprise us,” the Rosenborg man explained in the mixed zone last night. “We thought that they were going to stay deep and defend as they’ve had great success with that.
“Maybe we thought they would come more out of the blocks and try to attack more in numbers instead of just kicking the ball away and hoping to hit a player.
They defended with their lives, like we’ve seen. We had three good chances and maybe we could have done better on some of them but they defended really well.
“They are strong altogether so we have to match that again on the away pitch. We have to take our chance and hopefully score a goal.”
If Ireland are to progress to the World Cup without going all the way to a penalty shootout, they will have to score at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday evening and Bendtner sees a much-changed approach from Martin O’Neill’s side.
“I think it will be a different match,” he added. “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 and they will come more out, which allows us to get more space. It will be a more interesting match.”
A small number of fans booed the home side at Parken Stadium after they failed to convert a number of opportunities, and Bendtner admits the players were left a little disappointed with the result.
“The goal for us was to win the match, 100%. 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.
“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.”
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