Lars Olsen has admitted it would be a sensation of epic proportions if the Faroe Islands ruined Robbie Keane's party tonight.
The Republic of Ireland captain will win a record 126th senior inter-national cap at the Aviva Stadium, although the 32-year-old is more concerned about the three World Cup qualification points on offer.
Faroes coach Olsen knows the chances of the Group C minnows denying Ireland victory are slim, but he insists that is what they will set out to do. The former Denmark internationalist said: "It would be a sensation all over Europe but every time before we play, we believe we can win. Normally, I admit, Ireland must be a big, big favourite – but it's not every time the favourite is going to win."
The favourite certainly did win the last time the Faroes went into qualifier battle in March when they were trounced 6-0 by Austria in Vienna.However, Republic coach Giovanni Trapattoni has insisted there is no room for complacency, and Olsen is convinced his team will be better this time around. He said: "We played at the end of March in Austria and we had a bad performance. Therefore, we are looking forward to making it better against Ireland, even though we know it will be difficult for us.
"Ireland are one of the favourites to take second place. I think it will be between Sweden, Austria and Ireland – the Germans will win the group – but I'm optimistic because when you look at the opposite game in the Faroe Islands in October, we played well.
"In the first 45 minutes, we were the better team and at the break, in my opinion, we shouldh've been one or two goals up. We had 15 bad minutes at the start of the second half and the last 15 minutes was also bad, but it shows, I would say, we played an equal game against Ireland.
"I know it was at home in the Faroe Islands, but we believe we can do something better than that because we must be better than the last game, something like when we played Ireland the last time."
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