Denmark v Northern Ireland: Packs of lads sporting green shirts and bemused looks as they stared at streetmaps could be seen shuffling around Tivoli Gardens yesterday. Northern Ireland's upturn has lured 3,000 fans to the Danish capital, the biggest travelling support to the continent for 25 years, and as the captain, Aaron Hughes, said in a comment that encapsulates the progress made under Lawrie Sanchez over the past two and half years, these supporters "were hopeful more than anything in the past, but now they expect".
A little expectation, as Northern Ireland discovered last month, can be a dangerous thing. Sanchez's unease with the local media stems from what he says is the "boom-and-bust" coverage of the side's fortunes, though given that the first two matches of this group have featured a 3-0 home defeat by Iceland followed five days later by a 3-2 victory over Spain, bust-and-boom might be more appropriate.
"Against Iceland we certainly didn't want to be 3-0 down at half-time but we entered their box 70 times in 90 minutes," Sanchez said yesterday. "It certainly wasn't a bust performance. It was a bust result. They aren't boom-and-bust performances, they are performances built on one another, sometimes we get the right result, sometimes we let ourselves down defensively."
But against Spain, Sanchez and his players got it right, spectacularly so. But the optimism derived from that needs to be shackled in caution. This remains a team with three Premiership players - Hughes, winning his 50th cap, Steven Davis and Keith Gillespie - and Northern Ireland go into today's game with Denmark without a win in an away qualifier for five years. That was against Malta. But as Sanchez said, the fans are here because they are "caught up in the feelgood factor" and he wants it to continue so that Wednesday's home game with Latvia can be eyed hungrily rather than warily.
"We have built up a head of momentum," said Sanchez. "The players know me, I know the players, we have had success together which benefits any set-up, so they believe what can be achieved if they follow the game-plan - they have trust in that, which is important. It's very difficult - Denmark, Sweden and Spain would expect to qualify from this group. Latvia, Iceland and ourselves are all in the same boat, for any of us to qualify would be an absolutely amazing achievement.
"But we have got to come away from this game in Denmark without losing if we want to upset the apple cart. We have taken three points from Spain and they weren't expecting to lose. Spain go to Sweden this weekend - that's a clash where someone is going to lose points - if we can stop Denmark getting maximum points, then if we can come back and beat Latvia it'll keep it interesting. It's a big ask for Northern Ireland to qualify for the finals of a major tournament but I'd like to think that if anybody is capable of doing it then myself and this team are."
Sanchez deserves the credit directed his way for steering the Irish to 58th in Fifa's rankings but local eyes will always see the detail and so while, for example, the 1-0 defeat of England is cherished and celebrated still, the next two results were defeats at home to Wales and in Austria.
That meant Northern Ireland finished their World Cup group having won just twice, the England result preceded by victory over Azerbaijan. The Irish ended 15 points behind second-placed Poland and getting close to second place this time round will be equally difficult. Denmark have been in the last six European Championship finals and have more Premiership experience than Sanchez's men. Tonight, as ever, David Healy will be looked to for goals, the Leeds forward's record now being 23 in 52 internationals. Hughes mentioned that the three against Spain came the wrong side of the transfer window, otherwise "you might have seen a big flurry of activity". And Sanchez pointed out a less conspicuous Healy quality than goalscoring: "He perseveres, like this side; we persevere."
Group leaders Sweden will be without their most feared striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and their first-choice goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson when they take on Spain today.
Spain coach Luis Aragones has dropped his captain Raul from the squad - the first time the Real Madrid striker had been left out for reasons other than injury in 10 years. Without Raul the focus up front falls on the joint top scorer in the Primera Liga David Villa of Valencia and Atletico Madrid's Fernando Torres.
Guardian Service
