The Danes are on their way to the World Cup after midfielder Christian Eriksen led the way with three goals to overtake hosts Ireland in an emphatic 5-1 win.
Despite falling behind to a Shane Duffy strike after only six minutes, Denmark regrouped and made light work of Ireland, banging in five unanswered goals to book a place at next year’s tournament.
Ireland had held the Scandinavian team goalless during the first leg, but it was not to be for coach Martin O’Neill’s team, who had little response to an Andreas Christensen strike midway through the first half, which was swiftly followed up by Eriksen’s first.
The Tottenham Hotspur star then went on to score another two in the uneven contest, before Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner wrapped things up with a late penalty.
Two places up for grabs
The playoff at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium was one of the final qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Qualifying wraps up this week with Honduras traveling to Sydney, Australia, and Peru hosting New Zealand in Lima for the two inter-confederation playoffs.
Australia and Honduras remain honors even after playing out a scoreless draw in San Pedro Sula.
The Socceroos will take heart from the return of their talismanic striker Tim Cahill, who headed them — twice — to victory against Syria.
In addition, Australia has only lost one World Cup qualifier on home soil since 1981, according to FIFA.
The first leg of the Oceania-CONCACAF playoff also ended 0-0, in Wellington. Victory over the Kiwis would see Peru in the World Cup finals for the first time since 1982.
Monday night saw one of the shocks of the qualifying rounds, with four-time champions Italy eliminated by Sweden.
