THREE COLOURS – green, white and orange – in Gdynia yesterday afternoon as the local football fans made the Irish feel as if they were on home ground.
After a draining game against Hungary, the Irish team flew through the night, met with Wajciech Szeczurek, the mayor of Gdynia, for a reception yesterday afternoon and were then led out by assistant kit man Dick Redmond – who borrowed a pair of pom-poms from the local dancers – as if they were long lost heroes returned. And as they did a lap of honour, the Irish players seemed a bit giddy and delighted by it all.
“Yeah, it was great,” Jon Walters said later.
“We had a meeting with the mayor earlier on and to come here and have that many turn out . . . fantastic reception. Just shows you the support you get, even from the local people.”
The pulling power of the Premier League was in evidence as fans trained their cameras on Richard Dunne and Shane Long and Shay Given, who was rested for the session.
It wasn’t the most intensive training session Giovanni Trapattoni has ever given and his squad was understandably tired after Monday night’s game. The Gdynia football fans couldn’t help but wish they had seen something a little bit more robust.
“My second team, after Poland, will be Ireland,” vowed Pavel Plecha as he left the stadium.
“But I must tell you I am disappointed because I was looking forward to a quick game with the Irish like the German team did. But I am under a great impression after this session.”
Trapattoni came away with a less than great impression of the Irish performance against Hungary and that remained a topic of conversation afterwards. But that debate is likely to lumber for the remainder of the week and yesterday, the Italian also seemed buoyed by the reception his team had received.
“It was a big surprise for me. I heard maybe 2,000 people or more. I think we have to pay our respects back for this kindness we have received today. You could see with this country, people, they welcomed us very kindly. I think that maybe they feel the Irish people are nice. I saw this many times with Juve, Bayern, we play four or five games in this situation.”
The Gdynia crowd promised to shout for the Irish until the end, but although they were in bright mood yesterday, the pessimism that both nations share as a national trait came to the fore when talk turned to predictions.
“I can tell you this is like group of death,” Pavel Pleche said gravely.
“You have Spain and Italy and the black horse, Croatia. You are in a bad situation now but you are very good in defence so I think you have chance. As I remember you draw two matches with Italy and you have chances.”
Fighting words! Better than nothing and if the promise of Polish support materialises then all the better. The day of reckoning against the black horse is coming fast.
