Estonians also happy with outcome of play-off draw

PRETTY MUCH everyone in the Ireland camp may be happy to have drawn Estonia in the European Championship play-off next month but be under no illusions, pretty much everyone in the Estonia camp is happy to have drawn Ireland too.

“I don’t think the Republic of Ireland were the easiest of our potential opponents, all the teams at this stage are strong and they proved it during the group stage,” said national team coach Tarmo Rüutli on the way to introducing a rather large “but” to the proceedings.

“However, I won’t deny the fact that we wanted to face Ireland more than the others. Maybe the experience of our victories against Northern Ireland will help us. Both teams have the same British style of football.

“Everybody has a chance, there’s no doubt about it.”

His boss, association president Aivar Pohlak, was initially more emphatic, insisting: “This is what we wanted.” But there was a quick qualification with the official adding that, “there shouldn’t be any illusions that Ireland will be an easy opponent, though.”

Quite how tough the Estonians prove to be will be interesting, for their form over the course of the past couple of years has been erratic. They kicked off their qualification at home to the Faroe Islands in September of last year when they needed injury-time goals, from Raio Piiroja and Kaimar Sag, to rescue the points after they had gone behind.

They actually lost 2-0 in the return game, part of a five-match losing streak when friendlies are counted, but beat Serbia away, having come from behind again, and then finished the group strongly, taking full points from their game in Slovenia and two encounters with Northern Ireland.

In the end, they had 16 points to show for their 10 games, one more than Serbia, two better than Slovenia and seven more than Northern Ireland.

“It’s a sore one for people up there because they lost to them twice, which was critical to Estonia advancing to second in the group,” said Brian Kerr who, speaking on RTÉ Radio last night, said in relation to the Northern Ireland job: “If they offered it to me tomorrow, I might well take it.”

The Dubliner, who managed the Faroe Islands through this campaign, sees the Estonians as decent opposition but doesn’t feel they should be a match over two legs for Giovanni Trapattoni’s men.

“They’re a well-organised, structured team with a very clear pattern of play,” he said.

“They don’t play particularly defensively, as you can see if you look at the group table. They conceded 14 goals in the group and they scored 15 and that’s how they play it. They play it in a quite open fashion, both home and away.

“They gained nine points in the group away from home but they’re neither particularly convincing at home or particularly defensive away from home.

“They play a very even-mannered style, I would call it. No brilliant players, I think that’s been said by other people today and it’s true because I’ve watched them very closely in advance of playing them.”

Most, he noted, play in the likes of Norway, Cyprus, Hungary and Poland, “at clubs that are pretty obscure, I’d nearly say. It’s not like their players would be very well known or particularly frightening to the Irish squad but they are an effective unit.

“Still, I wouldn’t think that they are at the standard of the Irish team.”