Shane Long: We can reach the Euro 2012 semi-finals

How about a fresh morning dose of optimism? According to Irish striker Shane Long, the country has the potential to reach the semi-finals of this summer's Euro 2012 tournament.

"Croatia is the first game and I know there are going to be endless amounts of Irish people there cheering on us," he told the Irish Daily Star in an interview this morning.

"If we get three points we could be sitting there on top of the group and going into the second game with it all to play for. Hopefully we can get to the quarter-finals or semi-finals. If you are going to do it, you want to do it right."

Although Long admits that the Irish group of Croatia, Spain and Italy is "tough", he believes the side has the potential to beat anyone that faces them. "We don’t concede many goals," he said. "And we have goals ourselves. If we turn up on the day and do what we do best, we can beat any team."

One thing the West Bromwich Albion striker can't wait to see if the Green Army making the trek to Poland for the three ties, and even compared the Irish fans' plans for the tournament to singer Christy Moore's iconic 'Joxer goes to Stuttgart' track, which was centred upon Euro '88.

"They are all talking about getting camper vans and doing it the proper way," said the 25-year-old. "Everyone who is related to me and everyone who knows me is on about going over there. These are tough times in Ireland at the moment but this is something to look forward to.

"They'll have camper vans and tents and it will be proper 'Joxer goes to Stuttgart' stuff! How many will be going? Gortnahoe [Long's hometown in Tipperary] will be empty anyway!"

Do you reckon we have the ability to make it all the way to the semi-finals? Let us know in the comments section below.