Denmark, Northern Ireland Qualify for World Cup Finals

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.