Green is the only colour for Tardelli

Marco Tardelli was conducting his media duties on the way out of Ireland ’s training ground in Gdynia yesterday when he began urgently tugging on the sleeve of this journalist’s t-shirt.

“Why black?” he asked with a little smile.

It was an entirely accidental choice, as it happens, the day’s attire for the travelling hack being generally dictated by what’s available after everything else has gone into the laundry bag. But the assistant manager, of course, was getting at a more meaningful point. The time for mourning is over. Croatia is gone, and Irish heads are back up for tomorrow’s make or break encounter with Spain. Right now, green is the only colour for Marco Tardelli.