VIDEO: Irish fans and players will love Bosnia’s ‘old-school ground’

Irish Examiner soccer correspondent Liam Mackey is in Bosnia for Ireland’s Euro 2016 qualifier and he thinks the Irish fans will love the “old-school” feel of the Stadion Bilino Polje tonight.

The Examiner’s soccer columnist is in Bosnia making the same trek as the many Irish fans to Zenica, around 50kms north of the capital Sarajevo.

Liam said: “The Bosnians love it. Edin Dzeko was only saying yesterday that they love playing in Zenica because of the fervour of the crowd and the intimacy of it, but it’s possible the Irish players could thrive on that, too.”

However, he felt that the Irish fans will appreciate the fact that the venue is not the usual soulless stadium that seems to be the norm in European football nowadays.

He said: “It’s an old-school ground, it’ll be familiar to people who attend cup games and maybe involved with lower league teams in England, particularly when they’re up against the big guns.

“I think it’ll be hugely atmospheric, it’s a very intimate ground. The crowd will be breathing down the back of the players’ necks and a lot of the Irish players will be quite used to this.

“This place has real character.”

Whether this makes any difference will be seen tonight, but Liam thinks that Ireland need to score tonight to keep their qualifying chances alive.

Here’s a reminder of the ground brought by breakingnews.ie sports reporter, Shaun Cronin.