When Ireland and Estonia lock horns in Friday's Euro 2012 playoff, the visitors may be favorites to end a 24-year qualification drought but the hosts are not feeling the pressure as they eye their first ever tournament berth.
Whilst failure to edge the unheralded Baltic minnows would be considered nothing short of a disaster for the Irish, there are no such concerns for the Estonians who are already happy just having made it this far.
"There is definitely no pressure on us," Estonian Football Association spokesman Mihkel Uiboleht told AFP.
"We have already achieved something wonderful and extraordinary. For us, we never thought there was a possibility we would be playing in the playoffs," he added.
Ireland, meanwhile, are desperate to avoid a rerun of their failed 2010 World Cup playoff campaign, which saw them fall controversially to France.
They have not made it to a European Championships since 1988, nor to a World Cup since 2002.
At face value, the game looks like a mismatch.
While the majority of the Irish ply their trade in the English first and second divisions, most of the Estonians play for middling clubs in lower ranked European leagues.
Estonia stand 59th in the rankings of world football's governing body FIFA, compared to Ireland's 25th.
But Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni warned against seeing Estonia as easy opponents in the two-leg contest -- the second game takes place on Tuesday in Dublin.
"There is no room for complacency," the Italian said recently.
"We will remember that Estonia have as much right to be in the playoff as ourselves."
"These games will be a huge challenge for us, and we must maintain the correct mentality from start to finish."
By making the playoffs, Estonia manager Tarmo Ruutli's men have ventured further in a major international competition than any other team from their nation of 1.3 million.
After June's shock 2-0 away loss to the Faroe Islands -- when Estonia, unusually, were favorites -- they looked to have blown their chances.
But the Blueshirts turned the tables, winning their final three group matches, including the wrap-up game against Northern Ireland.
"It is clear when you look at the world rankings, past achievements and the clubs of the players, there is no question that Ireland are the favorites but we are ambitious," said Uiboleht.
However, he underlined: "Every week there are matches when teams are underdogs on paper but achieve success. Just look at our team, we have already beaten Serbia, Slovenia and Northern Ireland."
Estonia only returned to international football in 1992, a year after five decades of Soviet rule ended.
Football has long been the poor cousin here, but the Blueshirts have captured attention, enjoying headlines usually reserved for cross-country skiers.
Tickets for the playoff at Tallinn's 9,692-capacity A. Le Coq Arena sold out within 25 minutes of going on sale last month.
Uiboleht made a tongue in cheek comparison with the communist era.
"During Soviet times you were supposed to have a permit to buy a car. You could not just go and buy a car, so a permit was a great asset to have. Now the Estonia-Ireland tickets are a similar asset," he said.
A total of 1,400 tickets were allocated to the Football Association of Ireland for travelling fans.
Source: AFP
