Shay Fighting For His Dream

11 November 2011 16:39
Shay Given has suffered both the joy of qualification and the bitter disappointment of failure in sudden-death showdowns.

And the former Toon goalkeeper has warned his Republic of Ireland team-mates their play-off experience will count for nothing if they underestimate Estonia.

Shay Given: "We do have an advantage in that we have got the experience of having been here before, and I think it's the first time they have ever qualified for a play-off situation.

"But at the same time, it's the best team they have ever had in their history.

"I haven't seen all the video footage of them yet, but I have seen some of the goals from the campaign and they had some great results, so we can't be taking them lightly, turning up and thinking it's going to be an easy game or anything like that, because we know they have some very good players.

"We have experienced the other side of things, being away for the second leg.

"Even when we qualified for the World Cup in '02, we were in Iran and there were, I don't know, 50 or 100 Irish fans there.

"If we could do it in Dublin on Tuesday night, it would be just probably the most special thing in my career to actually qualify in Dublin.

"If we could do that, then the country would be going a little bit crazy, I would think.

"The last time we were in a championships, it was in Japan and (South) Korea, the other side of the world.

"Poland and Ukraine aren't so far away, and I'm sure if we do qualify then there will be thousands and thousands of Irish fans over there.

"I have always said that Irish fans make tournaments with the atmosphere and colour that they bring to them. It would be very special for me personally to play in one of them."

 

 

 

Source: FOOTYMAD