Smiling Alvarez dares to dream

KOLDO ALVAREZ, manager of Andorra, does a nice line in pithy, something a man is probably inclined to develop when he spends a lot of his time trying to explain to people where the reward comes from in managing a part-time international team which is currently ranked among the very lowest on the planet.

Hailing from the Basque country but now a naturalised Andorran, he came before us yesterday evening to deliver — not without some subtle humour, it must be said — a series of taut replies to a variety of questions on the central theme of minnows versus giants.

Ireland might not be accustomed to the latter designation but players from the English Premiership and Championship really do tower when placed alongside opponents who, when they aren’t holding down their day jobs, mainly play their football in the Andorran league or, in a couple of cases, in the outer extremities of Spanish club football.