Ireland and Denmark have everything to play for in the second leg of their World Cup Qualifying play-off match on Tuesday after the first leg in Copenhagen ended 0-0. The match will be played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. The two teams have last met in a friendly match in 2007 and Ireland recorded a comfortable 4-0 victory. Denmark have not beaten Ireland since 1985, when the two teams met in the World Cup qualifying campaign and that was the only time they won on Irish soil.
Ireland are looking to reach the World Cup final tournament for the first time since 2002. They battled through a tough qualification group where they had to compete with Serbia, Wales and Austria and they eventually managed to finish second thanks to a 1-0 victory in Wales in the last group match. That would all be in vain if they not beat Denmark on Tuesday and their main problem is scoring goals, they have conceded just six goals in their last eleven matches but only scored 12 times. David Meyler is available again after suspension, but Robert Elliot, James McCarthy, Richard Keogh and Sean Maguire have withdrawn from the squad.
Denmark are looking to return to the World Cup after having missed the 2014 edition in Brazil. They finished second behind Poland in their qualification group after ending the campaign with a fine seven-match unbeaten streak. They have let in just eight goals during the qualification campaign and scored twenty times. Moreover, they are unbeaten in their last ten matches, including friendly games. Yussuf Poulsen, Andreas Christensen and Nicklas Bendtner were on the bench for last week's first leg and they might make the first eleven this time.
Probable line-ups:
Ireland: Randolph - Christie, Duffy, Clark, Ward - Brady, Hendrick, Meyler, Arter, McClean - Murphy
Denmark: Schmeichel - Ankersen, Kjaer, Bjelland, Larsen - Eriksen, Delaney, Kvist - Poulsen, Jorgensen, Sisto
My prediction: Denmark to win 2-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Ireland win - 3.10
Draw - 3.00
Denmark win - 2.70
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Comments (1)
sharpe
11/19/17, 05:11:01 PM
What a way for Denmark to ends that historically poor record against Ireland. 5-1 away win didn't left any doubt really which is the team who deserves more to play...
What a way for Denmark to ends that historically poor record against Ireland. 5-1 away win didn't left any doubt really which is the team who deserves more to play at the finals. With a leader like Eriksen we could expect Denmark could be something more than just a regular presence on the World Cup finals probably.
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