Estonian captain goes a few steps too far in the pre-match kindness

It is typical of an opponent to talk up how good the opposition is but we think the Estonians may have gone a little too far ahead of Friday's clash.

Speaking in Tallinn to the Daily Star, Estonian captain Raio Piiroja began by stating that they are underdogs and we are favourites, so far, so standard.

Piiroja then cites the bumpy road to this new height for Estonia, hinting that they are happy just to be here.

“The past year has been a roller coaster for us. When we lost to the Faroe Island back in June we thought it was all over but we played well last month, we got lucky in the end and we are here now. We are happy with that and we know that Ireland will be favourites to win these games,” he said.

You’re too kind Raio. The defender then recalls the last time he faced Ireland, in a qualifier back in 2001, when he lined out against Robbie Keane. He remembers the day well.

“I know from the qualifiers how good a player he is. They are not happy memories. He is a legend in European and world football,” said the Vitesse Arnham player. Now we love Robbie here more than a chocolate covered Georgia Salpa but is he a legend of world football? Maybe he is.

But the moment we knew that the Estonians were pulling on our shillelagh was when they got to talk about Trap.

“Trapattoni we all know about,” said Piiroja. “He is a great manager who has made a big difference to your team. You guys are playing much better football now, you are more organised. Ten years ago you were typically British, playing a lot of long balls straight away. This is different. Now Ireland is pretty creative as well under Trapattoni.”

We are certainly more organised but we still play a huge amount of long balls and while we are many things, “pretty creative” is not something we have been. We will let the British thing go as Raio seems like a nice fella.

All in all a very impressive piece of buttering up though. We don't think the lads or Trap will fall for it.