Let there be light

Friday 11 November 2011

JACKIE McNamara thought that Estonia would remain a footnote in football history after they failed to turn up a World Cup qualifying game with Scotland in Tallinn in October 1996, ruining the former Celtic defender's first start for his country.

The Irish players train at the Le Coq Arena last night. Picture: Getty Images

Custom byline text:

Phil Gordon

However, the Estonians have not only repaired their reputation but will reach Euro 2012 if they overcome the Republic of Ireland in the play-offs.

They might be underdogs but the Estonians are an infinitely better side than the one who failed to appeared to meet Craig Brown’s team over a decade ago. Now 59th in the FIFA rankings, McNamara has already watched Tarmio Ruutli’s team dismantle another Irish dream.

“I had to assess the Estonians as part of my Uefa Pro coaching licence,” explained the Partick Thistle manager. “I am doing my badge in Belfast, under the guidance of the Northern Irish FA. The Estonians beat the Northern Irish home and away in the qualifying group, so the footage I went through with some of the Northern Irish coaches was a bit painful, especially, the 4-1 defeat in Tallinn.“That showed how Estonian football has changed. They have more of a goal threat now. A few other their players earn their living in good leagues. The current side are very athletic and pass the ball well.”Estonia were 135th in the world rankings when they failed to show up at the ramshackle Kadriorg Stadium after Scotland complained about the quality of the floodlights. The Estonian FA built a new stadium, the Le Coq Arena, in 2001 and since then the national side have held Croatia, Bulgaria and Turkey.Northern Ireland’s capitulation in Tallinn in September was riven with dreadful defending but McNamara feels that the Republic will be a tougher nut to crack. “The Irish will be favourites but Estonia will be well-organised and capable of hitting on the break,” he said. “The Irish have had a lot of near-misses and bad luck in play-offs in recent years.”When McNamara tunes into events in Tallinn tonight, he knows the Le Coq Arena will possess better lighting than the old Soviet-relic ones that provoked Estonia’s remarkable action in 1996. “We had trained there the night before and it was just some lights loaded onto the back on a truck and it the visibility was poor,” McNamara recalls. “Someone from the SFA told the FIFA observer and he agreed, so Craig Brown told us the kick-off would be changed from the evening to the afternoon.”The Estonian FA, however, were unhappy at losing the fee they had agreed for transmitting the game at 6.45pm and ordered their players not to turn up for the revised 3pm kick-off. “When we got to the ground, we were the only side there,” McNamara recalls. “Deep down, I kept thinking they would come round the corner at the last minute but they didn’t.“The manager told us to make things look correct from Scotland’s point of view because the television cameras were there. So we kicked off, even though there was no-one in the other half. The whole occasion was surreal. That was my first start -- I had come off the bench four days earlier in Latvia -- and I was built-up for it but I remember thinking, ‘is that it? Maybe I will never get picked again. I will be a one-cap wonder.’”He may not have taken part in the replayed game in Monaco, which finished goalless, but McNamara still went to earn 33 caps.

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Let there be light

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED