[caption id="attachment_67920" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Irish players celebrate following the goal by Jonathan Walters."]
Armistice Day in Europe or Veterans Day in the U.S. and it was also a hugely significant one for Irish people everywhere. We installed a new President at Dublin Castle and in faraway Tallinn the Boys in Green virtually wrapped up a place in the 2012 European Championships with a 4-0 win over Estonia in the first leg of the play-offs. (The second leg being played at the Aviva as the Echo went to press was being regarded as a formality.) In his inaugural speech new President Michael D. Higgins urged the Irish people to "address the next seven years with hope and courage.'' Giovanni Trapattoni, like Michael D., a man who is past his 70th birthday, may not be guaranteed seven years in his job, but the win in Tallinn should see him get new contract from the FAI.
There will be friendlies in the spring and an opportunity to look at new players and maybe a game against England at the Aviva, if we avoid the old enemy when the draw for the group stages is made on Dec. 2.
Michael D., a clear winner in the presidential election, is seen as an honest man, indeed in the run-up to the presidential election he was the only one who was not touched by controversy. Trapattoni would probably be regarded as a more cautious man than our new president, but maybe now some of his detractors can give Trap some of the credit he deserves. Under Trap the Irish don't play Brazilian-style football, but then we don't have Brazilian-style players right now. Qualification for the Euro 2012 finals is a major boost for soccer fans and the country in general, especially the FAI, who like many institutions, are in serious debt. The FAI is guaranteed around €10 million from the finals plus other monies from commercial and sponsorship deals.
Qualification should also take a bit of pressure off FAI CEO John Delaney, whose efforts to try and ingratiate himself with Irish supporters has been derided in the Irish media. Last week Delaney spent €2,000 of his own money buying drinks for Irish supporters in Tallinn. We Irish like people who are willing to make a "counter attack" and buy a round of drinks and Delaney has done that for the second time for traveling supporters. Last year Delaney provided free drink for Irish supporters as they traveled by train from Belgrade to Zilina. Meanwhile back at FAI headquarters in Abbotstown there were more redundancies last week. So everything is not perfect, but it's a start and looking further ahead there is a meeting in Frankfurt tomorrow between the various Football Associations to arrange dates for our games in the qualification stages of the 2014 World Cup, the finals of which will be played in Brazil. Ah Brazil and the sunshine football, bring it on.
