Hareide hoping for more happy days

Macdara Ferris reports from Copenhagen

The Norwegian boss of Denmark Age Hareide has previously managed sides that have knocked out Irish opposition over two legs. He will be looking for his Danish team to take the upper hand against the Republic of Ireland in the first leg of the World Cup playoff in Copenhagen on Saturday night.

When managing Brondby he eliminated Shelbourne and when in charge of Rosenborg his team knocked out Bohemians – winning all four matches against the Irish teams. Now in this playoff, he comes face to face with his old Irish landlord.

Hareide was a teammate and tenant of Martin O’Neill during his playing days with Manchester City and Norwich City. He joked at Friday’s evening’s press conference that “I was a very good lodger and he was a good landlord.”

He continued: “They were happy days. Martin was the captain at Norwich and was an inspirational leader and has lots of international experience with Northern Ireland.”

When the playoff draw was made, Denmark were probably looking for a team in green and white to be drawn out of the pot. It turned out that Northern Ireland got Switzerland while the Danes were drawn with the Republic of Ireland.

“I felt pity for the Northern Ireland boys yesterday,” said Hareide when asked about the controversial penalty awarded to Switzerland in Windsor Park that inflicted a loss on Northern Ireland.

“It was unfortunate but that is part of the game. The referee also makes mistakes. When it comes down to vital decisions it is really hard on the teams that suffer.

“Goal line decision is okay but if you have to go up with every decision to view on the monitor to see if it is right or wrong I don’t think that is good for the game.

Having talked up O’Neill as a landlord, the Denmark manager wasn’t exactly talking up the Boys in Green’s game plan.

“The Irish are easy to read. The game plan is easy. They don’t change from game to game and you see the same style of play.

“They are not dirty,” said Hareide about the Irish team. “During the campaign we played against teams who are physical and technical – we have to handle everything.”

The Norwegian has brought some of that ‘direct’ football that his own country is renowned for but has melded that with the creativity that the Danish game is well known for. Unbeaten this year, the Danes have moved up to 19 in the FIFA rankings from a lowly position.

Ireland have shown some of their best results away from home – unbeaten in six in competitive action away from the Aviva.

Last time out Ireland won a bruising encounter in Wales and the Denmark boss is looking at least to avoid defeat in the Parken Arena. He said he would be happy enough with a scoreless draw against Martin O’Neill’s men.

“As long as Ireland doesn’t score a goal, 0-0 would be okay. Then we have 120 minutes in Dublin for us to get the all important away goal in Dublin.

“Everytime we walk out here we want to win, everytime we go away, we want to win and we know we have the capability to do that."

For managerial reaction from Martin O'Neill see: O'Neill looking to lord it over his former tenant

extratime.ie will be covering the FIFA World Cup playoff first leg between Denmark and the Republic of Ireland live from Copenhagen. Our reporter Macdara Ferris will be in the Parken Arena to take you through the match build-up, including both pre-match press conferences on Friday, and the game itself on Saturday evening. Our match preview is here.

Some smiles at the Danish press conference pic.twitter.com/wS4LONDbzU

— Macdara Ferris (@macdarabueller) November 10, 2017