Ireland assistant manager Marco Tardelli has neatly backpedalled on a potentially embarrassing faux-pas ahead of Friday night’s big play-off against Estonia.
Tardelli was in confident mood when addressing the media ahead of the first leg in Tallinn.
But in an exchange which will doesn’t say a whole lot for his faith in the Irish players to do the job, he was momentarily at a loss to explain why he was feeling so upbeat.
The World Cup final goalscoring-hero-turned-portly-managerial-sidekick is quoted as saying, “We must play without any regrets. I am confident, I don’t know why I am, but I am confident.
He quickly added, “I know why, sorry. I believe in my players. Estonia are similar players, but maybe we have more skilful players. I think Damien Duff and Aiden McGeady are players who can change the match.”
Tardelli’s faith in the Irish players may be wavering, but the rest of us have no such problem.
We’re playing Estonia, they’ve never been to a major tournament and they’ve never even scored a goal against us. And they’ve never come up against a team as enjoyment-stifling, life-suffocatingly defensive as Trapattoni’s Ireland.
It’ll be a cinch. Right?
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