Boys in Green have Fabio quaking in his boots

England boss Fabio Capello is petrified about the prospect of being drawn alongside Ireland when the teams come out of the hat in the Euro 2012 draw in Kiev today.

Well, petrified may be stretching it a bit, but the stern Italian is anxious to avoid Ireland when the draw is made around 5pm today and who can blame him.

After all, we have faced England twice in major tournaments, drawing 1-1 thanks to a Kevin Sheedy daisy-cutter in Italia ’90 and beating them in Euro ’88 thanks the now legendary Ray Houghton header in Stuttgart.

England have been placed in Pot Two for the draw and while there is a chance they could be paired along with France from Pot Four, it is Ireland who Capello really wants to avoid.

"I spoke with Giovanni Trapattoni and [his assistant] Marco Tardelli after they got through," Capello said.

"They were both really happy. I think it's a real success for Ireland and for this manager. It is a great thing.

“I hope we are not [drawn against them]. The countries are close and also it would be two Italian managers, so I'd prefer not to be drawn with them. It would be interesting, but I prefer not. We cannot draw Italy as we are in the same pot but this would be the same for me to face another Italian manager.”

Excitement is building ahead of the draw later today as Irish fans wait to discover our itinerary before booking flights, boats and beer-filled camper vans and mini-buses en masse for the jaunt east next summer.

Most of us will be keeping our fingers crossed that we avoid the likes of Spain, Holland and Germany later today, but Ireland’s nuisance causing left winger Stephen Hunt sent out a message last night saying that Ireland will fear absolutely nobody next summer.

He wants Spain and when asked exactly why on a special edition of Off The Ball on Newstalk last night, he replied: “Underdogs. We always do better when we’re underdogs” to no doubt bewildered looks from the audience.

There’ll be no more speculating about potential opponents once the draw is made later today and if you want to keep in touch with events in Kiev as it happens, be sure to access our minute by minute coverage of the draw which will be kicking off around 1pm this afternoon.