Denmark, Northern Ireland Qualify for World Cup Finals

LONDON — Denmark, for the first time in its history, and Northern Ireland qualified Wednesday for next year’s World Cup soccer finals in Mexico.

Denmark reached the finals with a 4-1 victory over Ireland at Dublin.

Northern Ireland’s 0-0 tie in London with England, which has already qualified for the finals, gave it the one point it needed to secure a berth in the final 24.

Northern Ireland, which will be appearing in its second successive finals, qualified at the expense of Romania, a 3-1 winner in Turkey, and owes its place to an inspired performance by 40-year-old goalkeeper Pat Jennings, who made three superb saves.

Jennings’ 113th appearance in an international contest set a world record for a goalkeeper, one more than Dino Zoff, Italy’s World Cup-winning captain in 1982.

In the other World Cup game Wednesday night, Switzerland and Norway brought their unsuccessful campaigns to a close with a 1-1 draw at Lucerne, Switzerland.