Euro Zone

Compiled by EMMET MALONE

The Long of it: Roy's Irish fan

Shane Long's fondness for former boss Roy Hodgson has left him with a bit of a dilemma in the run up to next week's Euro 2012 kick-off with the striker admitting he would like the tournament to go well for the 64-year-old but not for his team.

“It’s a strange one,” says the West Brom player with a laugh. “I’d like to see him do well as manager of England but I wouldn’t like to see England do well. It’s a weird one. He’s given me a text wishing me the best in the Euros and I want the same for him. It’s a job that he wanted for a long, long time and it’s thoroughly deserved. I hope it goes well for him because there couldn’t be a man that deserves it more.”

Long, meanwhile. is in the dark with regards to Hodgson’s replacement, admitting that he had expected an appointment to be made by Thursday as that was the deadline the club seemed to set for itself in its public statement.

“Every morning when I wake up there’s a different name linked with it,” he says. “Maybe they’re just covering all bases. There’s no hurry I suppose, just have a manager installed by the time we get back for preseason and we’ll go from there.”

Friendly: Serbia first up

Like Ireland's first game at Euro 2012, the team's first friendly after it will be against Balkan opposition with the FAI confirming yesterday that it has struck a reciprocal deal for games against Serbia.

The first will be in Belgrade, a city the Irish team hasn't visited since the 1-0 defeat early in the Euro 2000 qualification campaign.

That match will take place on August 15th with the Serbs then travelling to Dublin for a return game at the Aviva Stadium on March 5th, 2014.

Serbia's last visit to Dublin was in 2008 when they provided the opposition for Giovnanni Trapattoni's first game in charge. They are currently ranked 32nd in the world.

Designed to thrill : Hunt's thumbs-up for new ball

Stephen Hunt reckons the main value of Tuesday's game in Pistoia was the opportunity it gave the Irish players to familiarise themselves with the new adidas tournament balls in something approaching a competitive environment.

"The balls are good to be fair," he says. "I quite enjoy using them to be honest. It's just a question of getting your set pieces right with them, seeing how they react and all of that.

"I probably overhit a few of the corners for instance – a fair few of them were going to the back stick when I probably wasn't meaning them to go to the back stick so it's probably a question of getting them into the six-yard box, getting to judge the delivery, taking a bit off them in the end."

Hunt did indeed overhit a few things during the opening stages of the game but his curling, angled cross to Simon Cox for the game's second goal was an early indication that he was getting to grips with things.

Tasty finish: Irish food and drink on show to locals

It would be pretty hard to miss the fact that the Irish are in town as you wander around Montecatini with flags and signs welcoming Giovanni Trapattoni and his players in evidence all around the place.

There is also a stand in the main square where they are serving Guinness and Harp while the town's free to hire bicycles have all been painted green.

Now, Bord Bia have set up shop around the corner from the team hotel, offering locals the opportunity to sample Irish grub and also feeding the players with chef David Steele overseeing things.

The whole thing is part of a welcome attempt to capitalise on the obvious goodwill generated by the camp.

The beer-stand, which is barely 50 metres from the team hotel, must seem a little cruel to the town's special guests, however.

Those in need of a pre-Euro 2012 Irish football fix ahead of Monday's game against Hungary could do a lot worse than Shane Caffrey and Jonathan Lambert's time-lapse video of last weekend's game against Bosnia- Herzegovina. It's here . . . www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embeddedv=atmYNj-vjs