Southampton: Shane Long and Ireland hammered in WC play-off
By Chris Hughes
Last night, Denmark ran riot in Dublin winning the second leg of their World Cup qualifier play-off 5-1, courtesy of a Christian Eriksen hattrick.
Breaking the trend of goalless second legs, the Republic or Ireland were thumped on home soil by the Danes who needed just a goal to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Russia.
A goalless stalemate after the first game meant all was to play for going into last night’s match, with Southampton’s Shane Long initially starting on the bench.
The Irish did in fact take the lead through Brighton’s Shane Duffy, when Robbie Brady’s free-kick was deflected and pounced on by the centre-back. However, the lead didn’t last long as before the half-hour mark Chelsea’s Andreas Christensen scored a scrappy effort which itself took a heavy deflection.
Christian Eriksen, who was without a doubt the most technically-gifted player of the pitch, showed his word-class potential by smartly finishing off a counter attack to give the Danish their first lead of the game before half time.
Despite a double change at the interval from the Irish, the away side showed little mercy and went for more, with Eriksen adding his second and Denmark’s third with a sweet effort off Pione Sisto’s pass.
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The Southampton man was then brought on in the 71st minute as Martin O’Neill’s final roll of the dice, but just two minutes after his introduction Eriksen grabbed his third to put the game to bed.
Long had chances in the 20 minutes he was on the pitch but couldn’t break his now 30-game goal drought for club and country, which stands as the worst of his professional career.
Salt was rubbed in the wounds late on as fan-favourite Nicklas Bendtner converted from the spot to score Denmark’s fifth goal of the night.
Long’s play-off disappoint means three Saints players have lost their respective qualifiers this past weekend. Davis and Northern Ireland were trumped by Switzerland before Italy fell short against Sweden. The only Saints player to win their play-off was Sofiane Boufal, and he was on the bench.