Northern Ireland beaten by Denmark after seeing late leveller ruled out by VAR
Jonas Wind scored the only goal of the game as Northern Ireland debutant Callum Marshall saw his effort ruled out for offside.
Northern Ireland had a stoppage-time equaliser ruled out by VAR as a battling display went unrewarded in a 1-0 Euro 2024 qualifying loss to Denmark.
Jonas Wind’s goal early in the second half made the difference in Copenhagen as debutant Callum Marshall saw a dream goal ruled out for offside after a review which took almost five minutes.
The West Ham youngster flicked the ball in after Jonny Evans headed on a free-kick, but there was despair when referee Daniel Stefanski eventually signalled for offside after his colleague Tomasz Kwiatkowski took an age to review the footage.
Wind pounced when Ciaron Brown got it all wrong trying to deal with Joakim Maehle’s short cross in from the left, slamming the ball home from close range.
But O’Neill will take encouragement from how a youthful line-up dealt with the hardest fixture in Group H.
Before kick-off came news that Craig Cathcart had suffered a back injury, taking the number of first-team regulars missing to 10, a figure threatening to derail this qualifying campaign even before the halfway stage.
O’Neill was well aware of what he was asking of such inexperienced players in the raucous atmosphere of the Parken Stadium, and watched on as they soaked up huge amounts of pressure before the break as Denmark grew frustrated.
Andreas Skov Olsen’s early cross was slightly behind Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who twisted acrobatically to make contact but could not find the target.
Christian Eriksen sent a free-kick from long range wide, while the clearest chance came to Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen just before the half hour as space opened up in front of him, but his powerful shot was straight at Bailey Peacock-Farrell.
It was Lavery who had Northern Ireland’s only first-half opportunity when Price laid the ball off on the edge of the area. Lavery looked up to see three defenders closing in, but got off a deflected strike which Kasper Schmeichel was able to gather.
But after all that hard work in the first half, Denmark needed only two minutes of the second to find the breakthrough thanks to a mistake at the back.
Northern Ireland did not recover their shape after Bradley lost the ball, and when Brown stumbled to the floor, Wind accepted the gift.
Quick distribution from Peacock-Farrell set Price free down the right as the hour mark approached, but with no support the teenager had to test Schmeichel from a tight angle, forcing a corner.
It looked as though there was a late twist when Marshall, on for Ali McCann with five minutes left, turned the ball home from close range, but VAR would kill the celebrations.
Just three games into the qualifying campaign, it feels as though Northern Ireland must now deliver a result at home on Monday to keep themselves in the mix.
