Soccer

Ireland's regime change may set Denmark a different puzzle

Former Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill is greeted by Denmark Manager Age Hareide (right) during their 2017 World Cup play-off first leg clash in Copenhagen. It was the beginning of the end of O'Neill's reign
Former Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill is greeted by Denmark Manager Age Hareide (right) during their 2017 World Cup play-off first leg clash in Copenhagen. It was the beginning of the end of O'Neill's reign Former Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill is greeted by Denmark Manager Age Hareide (right) during their 2017 World Cup play-off first leg clash in Copenhagen. It was the beginning of the end of O'Neill's reign

European Championship 2020 Qualifier Group D: Denmark v Republic of Ireland (tonight, Telia Parken stadium, 7.45pm Irish time)

FROM every conceivable angle, regime change is palpable. Tactically. Accessibility. Mood-wise. You wouldn’t think there have been weekly storms at the FAI headquarters soon after Mick McCarthy was re-appointed as Republic of Ireland manager in November.

The former Ireland captain was a picture of serenity at last night’s pre-match media conference in Copenhagen’s Telia Parken stadium ahead of their Euro 2020 showdown with Denmark.

When it comes to all things FAI, McCarthy is apolitical. Amid on-going investigations into the financial practices of the Association, it emerged late on Wednesday night that FAI email accounts had been hacked and that every effort was being made by forensic scientists to repair the problem.

McCarthy shrugged his shoulders, turned to his media officer and quipped that he’d been “busy” with the technological glitch.

McCarthy turns up, trains and picks the team and exudes affability and authority in his press conferences.

At one point yesterday, he complained about the wake-like atmosphere in the press-room.

With two Euro 2020 wins under his belt, McCarthy was in jocular mood – a far cry from the end of days under Martin O’Neill.

O’Neill’s pre-match press conferences were grim affairs. They seemed too close to match-day for O’Neill to consider dancing to the media’s tune. So he invariably didn’t.

He was often monosyllabic in his answers and a sense of gloom often engulfed the room.

In their last visit to the Telia Parken stadium 19 months ago – the World Cup first leg play-off which ended in a drab scoreless draw – O’Neill was privately livid about an alleged spy in one of the high rise apartments that overlooked the pitch.

Consequently, O’Neill cut the team’s training session for fear of prying eyes. McCarthy, though, was less vexed about potential spies in and around the stadium before they trained last night.

Leaning back in his chair, McCarthy said: “I am going to do nothing that has anything to do with the game tomorrow. Expect we will have 21 players running about trying to pass the ball to each other and score.

“It's nuts,” he added, “they all say they have cleared the stadium but I don't think for one minute there is ever a game where they have cleared the stadium without someone watching so why would you do it in the stadium?”

The Danes and the Irish have clashed four times over the last 19 months with three of their meetings ending in uninspiring scoreless draws.

In the first of four chapters, the World Cup first leg tie in Copenhagen in November 2017, Denmark’s accomplished central midfielder Thomas Delaney summed up the desperately conservative nature of Martin O’Neill’s team that night as akin to trying to open a can of beans with your bare hands.

In pursuit of a second-half equaliser in Dublin, O’Neill made two half-time changes that effectively enabled Christian Eriksen to complete a famous hat-trick and end Ireland’s hopes of playing at the World Cup finals in Russia. O’Neill nor his team were able to recover from that nightmarish 5-1 play-off defeat.

Against the proud Kilrea man’s will, regime change was initiated.

Tonight, Denmark can expect the visitors to play slightly higher up the pitch and will try to keep the ball better than their last visit. That’s what Mick McCarthy’s teams do and there was plenty of evidence of this approach in Ireland’s 1-0 home win over Georgia three months ago.

“You're comparing two different regimes, I guess,” McCarthy said.

“We're going to try to replicate what we did [against Georgia] – if we do and we play well and we get something from it, everything will be great.

“If we don’t, perhaps people will be saying: 'You know, you maybe should have had a more defensive mindset coming to Denmark because they're a good team',

“I'll look forward to seeing what you're all saying. I know what we’re going to being doing, anyway, tomorrow.”

There are seven survivors from the side that chiselled out that scoreless draw in the Danish capital at the back end of 2017: Darren Randolph, Seamus Coleman, Shane Duffy, Callum O’Dowda, Robbie Brady, James McClean and substitutes Conor Hourihane and Glenn Whelan.

The latter pair are almost certainly going to start in midfield tonight with McCarthy perhaps having to decide between Robbie Brady and O’Dowda for that last remaining midfield berth, both of whom though are short of match fitness.

McCarthy acknowledged he would be “thrilled” with a draw tonight after watching the Danes battle back from three goals down against hosts Switzerland to score three themselves in their only Euro 2020 qualifying encounter to date.

“If I'd been offered a draw, I wouldn't have got on the plane. I'd have stayed at home, took the point and played against Gibraltar [on Monday night].

“That doesn't mean to say we're coming here just to sit back and try to get a draw; we're coming here to try to win the game and we'll approach it in a very attacking, aggressive way.”

Age Hareide, the wily Danish coach, revealed his side would be ready for a different approach from the Irish should they try to play higher up the pitch.

“We saw the differences in the set-up of the way they wanted to play against Georgia,” he said.

“For us, we concentrate on our own play. We don’t think so much about the opposition and what they will do. We know the Irish team very well because we have played them a lot over the past two years. If they want to try and press us, that’s okay. We have to be prepared for that as well.”

A draw is on the cards again tonight.

Republic of Ireland (probable): Randolph, Coleman, Stevens, Duffy, Keogh, Whelan, Hourihane, Hendrick, Brady, McGoldrick, McClean.

Denmark (probable): Schmeichel, Dalsgaard, Stryger, Kaer, Zanka, Delaney, Schone, Eriksen, Braithwaite, Jorgensen, Poulsen.