Five reasons to be cheerful

Fourteen-match unbeaten run: It hasn’t all been plain sailing — remember Moscow? — but Ireland return to Europe’s top table tomorrow night on the back of an impressive unbeaten streak stretching back to 3-2 friendly defeat against Uruguay in March of last year.

Trapattoni’s men have picked some noteworthy results along the way, including a friendly win over final Group C opponents Italy and a draw in another friendly against Croatia. Ireland will certainly not be the most naturally gifted team in the finals but under Trapattoni they will be hard to beat.

Croatian arrogance: They say pride comes before a fall and it’s hard to escape the conclusion that Croatia view Ireland as a routine assignment before the real business of toppling Italy and Spain starts. Slaven Bilic has been dismissive of Ireland’s threat in the build-up to the finals and although the Croatia manager suggested this week that his words had been taken out of context he still got a dig in about Ireland playing ‘simple football’. Bilic’s comments won’t have gone unnoticed in the Irish dressing-room.