Gavin Cooney reports from Copenhagen
MICK MCCARTHY HAS picked the same Irish team as beat Georgia 1-0 in March for tonight’s crucial Euro 2020 qualifier against Denmark.
It means that Glenn Whelan has been given the task of shackling Christian Eriksen, while David McGoldrick leads the line. There is once again no place in the starting line-up for Matt Doherty, with Robbie Brady getting the nod on the right wing.
The team in full:
Darren Randolph; Seamus Coleman (c), Shane Duffy, Richard Keogh, Enda Stevens; Glenn Whelan, Conor Hourihane, Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick, James McClean; David McGoldrick.
Christian Eriksen, meanwhile, starts for a Denmark team stacked with veterans of this clash.
Their team in full reads:
Kasper Schmeichel; Stryger Larsen, Andreas Christiansen, Simon Kjaer, Henrik Dalsgaard; Lasse Schone, Thomas Delaney, Christian Eriksen; Yussuf Poulsen, Nicolai Jorgensen, Martin Braithwaite.
McCarthy’s side currently top Group D, five points clear of Denmark having played a game more.
Ireland have not won a competitive game against the Danes since 1979, although three of the last four meetings have ended in scoreless draws. The outlier is the World Cup play-off second leg in Dublin, which finished…well, there’s no need to go into that.
McCarthy has bluntly said that a draw would be a good result for Ireland, and that he “wouldn’t have got on the plane” had he been offered a point in the build-up to the game.
