Damien Duff has hit out at the atmosphere in the Al Janoub Stadium following Denmark's dismal performance which saw them dumped out of the World Cup this afternoon.
The Danes looked a shadow of the team who scored thirty goals in World Cup qualification, offering little attacking threat, as Australia booked their place in the last 16 for just the second time in their history thanks to Matthew Leckie's strike on the hour mark.
Duff, who studied the team intensely while completing his coaching badges, was far from impressed with the performance of Kasper Hjulmand's side, questioning their belief and hunger to advance to the next round.
“Sometimes it just comes down to how much you want to stay in a World Cup, and you never got that feeling from Denmark of ‘here I’ll do anything to go into the knockout stages’.
“For me the Denmark performance reflects the atmosphere in the stadium," the Shelbourne manager said on RTÉ.
"The camera work never panned in on the stadium, there was a real flatness."
Damien Duff Shocked At World Cup Atmosphere
🇦🇺 1-0 🇩🇰 - FT
'It was bizarre. FIFA talk about selling an amazing product - I don't think it was that today...'
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READ HERE: Damien Duff Remains Unconvinced By England's World Cup Chances After 3-0 Win
Throughout the game there was little in the way of atmosphere with individual fans and players being picked up by the microphones surrounding the pitch.
"You could hear the players speaking on the pitch, it’s bizarre," Duff added.
"FIFA talk about selling an amazing product, well I don’t think it was today because you shouldn’t be hearing the players in a World Cup game.
“The Danish produced a bizarre, flat performance which was surprising when they have so much quality.”
Damien Duff "sick" of watching Denmark
Duff was also critical of their mentality and style of play.
“They lost belief, they never believed.
"You’re looking at them in the second half going ‘nah’.
"You could turn away from the TV knowing that they weren’t going to score.
"They started doing things that they’ve never done, I studied them, I’m sick of them.
"Hitting big, long, ugly diagonal balls to Cornelius, they’ve never done that, they don’t play like that, maybe that’s what desperate men do.
"With twenty minutes to go they were desperate for two goals to stay in the World Cup and they just started doing things they’ve never done."
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