On Friday the Irish football team will be in Tallinn for the first of two play-off games against Estonia for a place at next summer’s European Championship finals in Poland and Ukraine. Ireland have only once reached a major championship by winning such a tie, when they beat Iran in late 2001 and so went to the World Cup in Japan and South Korea the following year.
Having received the most favourable draw possible, Ireland start as firm favourites against a country that has never made it even to this stage of a tournament before, and the future of Giovanni Trapattoni (below) as Ireland’s manager almost certainly hinges on qualification.
Trapattoni has injury concerns about a number of prominent players, most notably John O’Shea and Shane Long, both of whom seem likely to miss one if not both of these games. (The second play-off will be in Dublin on Tuesday week.) Kevin Doyle will miss the Tallinn match through suspension.
The Estonians will also be without a player or two, however, and so, barring a big surprise, the Green Army of supporters will have their first opportunity since the economic bust to mount a full-scale mobilisation. The cash reserves of credit unions up and down the country may be about to take a further battering.
