Baltic minnows get another chance to land a Big Fish

SOCCER ANGLES:So it is back to Tallinn for the first time since Ireland's 2-0 win in the World Cup qualifier in 2001, writes MICHAEL WALKER

IT IS one of those situations where you have to get out the Yearbook to make sure your recollection is even close to accurate.

It was sunny, balmy even, you say to yourself. The stadium was small and unfinished, wasn’t it? And the game was tricky for the much-fancied opposition? A decade on operation Tallinn recall was being jump-started on Thursday lunchtime. When Ziggy Boniek – what a player – held up that little piece of paper with Estonia written on it, thoughts hobbled back to June 2001.

It was Estonia versus the Netherlands on the same day as a certain Roy Keane scored at Lansdowne Road against Portugal. This was Group Two of the 2002 World Cup qualifiers and it was tense.

These were the double-headers at the end of a long domestic season and for Mick McCarthy’s squad a home game against Portugal was to be followed by a trip to Tallinn. Four points from those games were deemed necessary if Irish hopes of winning the group or coming second were to remain realistic. No one knew it then, but this campaign could have been called the Road to Tehran. Saipan was just a name on a map no one was looking at.

For 14 minutes at Lansdowne Road, Keane’s goal looked to be giving the Irish a decisive advantage at the top of the group. Then Luis Figo scored with a header with 10 minutes left and 1-1 it ended. Keane had been booked, too, which meant he was suspended for Tallinn.

Over there, meanwhile, in that small, picturesque city, the third “big team” in a fierce group – the Netherlands – heard the Dublin result and set about keeping pace.

Louis van Gaal was in charge of the Dutch. He was under some pressure due to Portugal’s 2-0 victory in Rotterdam the previous October.

The Netherlands had gained a measure of retribution in Oporto six months later when they led 2-1 until the 90th minute – Figo again – but the Dutch required points and Estonia simply had to be beaten.

It was 0-0 at half-time.

Van Gaal had chosen Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink ahead of Ruud van Nistelrooy. It is one of those selections that need double-checking. With the score still 0-0 on the hour mark, on came Van Nistelrooy.

Five minutes later Estonia went one up. Andres Oper scored the goal. It was Estonia’s 100th international since independence from the Soviet Union and it was their first in the new Lillekula stadium. It held 9,500 that night; it will hold around 14,000 in November.

Frank de Boer equalised quickly – this was a strong Dutch squad – but Indrek Zelinski made it 2-1 with 12 minutes left. Estonia were on the brink of the biggest occasion of their football lives.

But with just eight minutes left, Van Nistelrooy got another equaliser shortly after Oper had missed by inches making it 3-1. Instead Patrick Kluivert then made it 3-2 in the 89th minute and Van Nistelrooy added a fourth in injury-time. “Lucky”, said Van Gaal afterwards.

Outside we spoke to Mart Poom, the most famous Estonian player of them all. He was injured but proud and said: “Of the former states of the Soviet Union, I think we are now third behind Russia and Ukraine. That shows good progress.

“The one thing that has been missing is the big win. We’ve drawn against Scotland twice, we’ve drawn against Finland and beaten them, and we’ve beaten smaller countries. But we need a big win. Maybe Wednesday. Ireland are a big fish now.”

But Wednesday never happened for Estonia. After nine minutes Richard Dunne scored and then Keane’s replacement, Matt Holland, added a second before half-time. Final score: Estonia 0 Big Fish 2.

There were two Irish games left: at home to the Netherlands and Cyprus. After the summer break, on September 1st, there was that colossal, unforgettable victory over the Dutch – Jason McAteer the only scorer. Cyprus were then beaten 4-0 – Ian Harte, Niall Quinn, David Connolly and Roy Keane scoring.

But if the Dutch wilted, Portugal bloomed. They beat Cyprus 6-0 at home, won 7-1 in Andorra and on that final group day beat our friends from Estonia 5-0 in Lisbon. Undefeated Portugal won the group on goal difference. An Asia/Europe play-off awaited the also undefeated Irish.

At least November against Iran brought an aggregate win, given the previous play-off experiences against Belgium and Turkey.

And now another. It is back to Tallinn for the first time since 2001. The Baltic republic has 10 more years’ nous.

They have made further progress to reach second in Group C of the Euro 2012 qualifiers with their 3-1 win in Serbia last October the highlight – “a big win”. Nemanja Vidic was playing for the Serbs, who went 1-0 up.

Then again, Estonia needed two goals in the last minute to beat the Faroes, while in the group for the 2010 World Cup another country in the play-offs, Bosnia, beat Estonia 7-0.

Middlesbrough substitute Tarmo Kink is a recognisable name, as is captain Raio Piiroja, who was man-of-the-match against the Dutch back in 2001. And there’s Andres Oper, he’s still in the Estonia squad at 33.

But Oper has better memories of the Netherlands than Ireland. Estonia had already lost 2-0 in Dublin in those qualifiers (Mark Kinsella and Dunne).

It’s up to Dunne and Shay Given, who also started in Tallinn in June 2001, to keep it that way. You’ve got to think they will.

Surely this is not what is meant by The Liverpool Way.

IT'S WIGAN Athletic v Bolton Wanderers today. It's in the Premier League, or the "EPL" as we hear increasingly. It is third-bottom versus bottom and it's all happening around 20 miles from Anfield.

How many will go to the egotistically named DW Stadium this afternoon? There were 17,100 for the same fixture this month last year, so that offers a measurement.

What is certain is that it won't be as many as there will be at Anfield. It is sold out, Manchester United are the visitors to Liverpool after all. This game kicks off at 12.45pm, which will be 7.45pm in the evening in Kuala Lumpur.

According to Liverpool's managing director Ian Ayre, the last detail matters greatly.

Ayre thinks clubs like Bolton and Wigan deserve reduced foreign TV money as no one watches them in places like Malaysia.

There is a real fascination in football boardrooms with Asia, not because they are interested in Asian culture but because there is money to be made. Or so they say.

Maybe Ayre is correct, but it is a dispiriting assessment.