Keane duly delivered a verbal volley of expletives, cursing David Trezeguet, the man who had sentenced Republic of Ireland to the Group of Death.
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Conte said the Belgians are on a different level from the rest of the Group E challengers.
“Then I see pretty equal teams with Sweden, us and Ireland. And Ibahimovic is a top-class player”. But the first two teams go through and, together with Italy, we’re the favourites in this group.
Manager Michael O’Neill approach both Martin O’Neill and Gordon Strachan, his Republic of Ireland and Scotland counterparts, for advice before the tournament as both countries faced Germany and Poland in their qualifying group. It’s a tough draw, but with enough desire we should be able to beat anyone. “Every match can be decisive”.
Italy start their campaign against Belgium on June 13, them face Sweden in Toulouse on June 17 and Ireland on June 22.
“It is not the easiest draw but we have to deal with it”, the Chelsea No. 1 said.
“We have to be right on top form from the start”.
“We had made provisional plans to play in Poland”, Irish FA chief executive Patrick Nelson told BBC Sport NI.
With England looming large in Pot 1, Martin O’Neill is sanguine about the prospect of meeting up with Roy Hodgson in France. Although Belgium are the top-ranked side in the world it was the presence of Italy, picked out of the second pot, which irritated former Sunderland and Aston Villa boss O’Neill. It’s very hard. They are games to look forward to for the fans but it’s tough for us.
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O’Neill added: “Germany were maybe the pot one team that I didn’t want but, having been drawn in it and got my head around it, I think it’s a fantastic game for us”.
