SOCCER EURO 2012 QUALIFYING: Andorra v Rep of IrelandIT WAS in times like these that Franklin D Roosevelt was moved to observe that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". In football the opposite can often be true and as he stood in a corner of Espanyol's training ground on the outskirts of Barcelona last night, Marco Tardelli insisted that just a little apprehension will be a good thing as the Republic of Ireland head for the hills this afternoon.

“Every player prefers to play against big teams because the motivation is different,” he said when it was put to him that the Irish have traditionally seemed to prefer being underdogs than favourites.

“This is the danger, it is possible to think that the match will be easy but it won’t be easy. We will need to start very quickly and I think we need to press the Andorran team because we want to win this match. The players are all fit and focused on the what they must do. I saw it well during the training,” added Tardelli.

All 25 of the players who travelled yesterday trained last night on a surprisingly rough looking pitch that Tardelli insisted had not been selected especially to prepare them for the venue in Andorra la Vella. “If the pitch there is as good as here . . .” said the Italian with a laugh.

Tardelli, who has good memories of these parts from 1982 when Italy, on the way to the title, beat Brazil and Argentina at Espanyol’s old Sarriá stadium before heading across town to see off Poland in the World Cup semi-final at the Nou Camp, says that everyone is available for selection with the exception of Jonathan Walters who is still back in England suffering from what is reported to be an ankle problem. There remains some chance that the Stoke City striker might be involved in some way on Tuesday night but it looks a long shot at this stage and he is out of tomorrow’s encounter.

Glenn Whelan, on the other hand, may not be to judge by last night’s session, although with 12 playing 12 at the end the fact that both he and Keith Fahey played with the “probables” may simply have been designed to keep the small party of reporters in the stand guessing. Only the Birmingham City midfielder had been included in the stronger side for training the previous day suggesting that Trapattoni was leaning towards a slightly more attack-minded approach in the centre of the field.

The manager will almost certainly name his starting 11 this evening when the squad train at the match venue but Tardelli kicked to touch pending the announcement, choosing to contest the suggestion that Keith Andrews and Whelan were a more defensive pairing when the issue was raised with him.

Elsewhere in the side, things remain clearer with Kevin Doyle again partnering Robbie Keane in attack and Darren O’Dea confident enough of his place to publicly acknowledge that he is likely to start.

“Yeah, it’s looking that way and it will be great to be involved in another massive game,” he said as he left the training ground last night, “hopefully it goes well.

“I think all the games are big now, were that close. We need to be at our best. It will be an awkward game for us but we need to set up Tuesday for ourselves. We hear the pitch wont be great but we can have all the excuses under the sun, at the end of the day we need to win the game and thats what well be trying to do.”

He has, he acknowledged, more experience than some in the squad of being part of a side expected to beat less celebrated opponents in difficult surroundings but the bottom line, he insisted, is teams with big ambitions have to have the wherewithal to get past opponents whose only aim is to trip them up.

“Yeah, the pitches are the same in Scotland sometimes and I’ve been involved in a couple (of upsets), a fair share. I know what it’s like to be involved in a bad one,” he says referring perhaps to the Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Ross County in April 2010, “and certainly not getting three points on Friday would be a bad one. We know how difficult it will be and what’s riding on it so there’ll be no complacency.

“If you want to win things or qualify for massive tournaments, though, you’re expected to win games like this. And we’ll expect it of ourselves.

“The key,” he continued, “is just to stay patient and hopefully score early. The main thing is that you can’t concede and stay in the game as long as possible.

“And it’s important not to get nervous. People will be expecting you to go up three or four nil but it’s never like that. We just have to get three points, that’s all that matters.

“If that happens,” he observes, “and Ireland do go on to qualify then people may have to reassess some of the earlier results in the campaign.

“There’s been a lot of emphasis on Moscow but it’s been a long campaign and there have been many other important victories and things that we’ve got. Even the Slovakia game, you look at it now and it wasn’t the worst point in the world and there was a lot of publicity after that, people saying it was a bad result.

“But now it doesn’t look too bad and it will only look better if we manage to get three points on Friday. If we don’t do that, we all know the consequences.”

The point in Moscow, of course, was secured off the back of an outstanding performance by Richard Dunne who is suspended this time around and, given that he played too, there was some confusion when the Dubliner was asked what it was like to watch the Aston Villa defender’s performance from the bench.

“Yeah, well, to be fair, I might as well have been on the bench,” he joked, “he probably could have done the whole thing himself the way he was playing.”

Venue: Estadi Comunal Kick-off: Tomorrow,8.30pm On TV: RTÉ Two, Sky Sports 2