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One player is still followed by Japanese fans while another has fond memories of Alan McLoughlin scoring in Belfast

This article is part of the Guardian's Euro 2012 Experts' Network, a co-operation between 16 of the best media organisations from the countries who have qualified for the finals in Poland and Ukraine. guardian.co.uk is running previews from two countries each day in the runup to the tournament kicking off on 8 June.

Giovanni Trapattoni

When the Italian suddenly emerged as the successful candidate for the Ireland manager's job everybody was aware of what he had achieved over the course of a remarkable career in the game but few knew much at all about Trapattoni the person.

That he turned out to be the personification of charm itself in his early interviews a few weeks later – he had to see out the season with Red Bull Salzburg before travelling to Dublin to take up his new job – came as a little bit of a surprise, because in the meantime a YouTube video of one of his press conferences while at Bayern Munich had become an internet sensation in Ireland.

Four years later, we are still awaiting the Italian's first real tantrum as manager but there has been plenty of evidence of his peculiar talents with foreign languages.

Shay Given

The Aston Villa goalkeeper was just five years old when his mother Agnes died of lung cancer and in the years since finding fame as a footballer he has become a major donor and fundraiser for cancer charities, particularly the British-based organisation Macmillan Cancer Support.

In 2004 Given, along with his wife Jane, ran the first Fashion Kicks, an event that mixed fashion, football, music and food, raising around €70,000. The 2012 event, which again featured many prominent footballers and models, was held recently and with money still coming in the running total now stands at more than €1.2m.

Sean St Ledger

When Ireland qualified for major championships back in the late 1980s and early 90s the players took pride in their connection to ordinary fans, but much has changed in the years since and opportunities for supporters to meet or mingle with their heroes are rarer.

So, it came as a complete surprise to Graham Lennon, a locksmith on his way to work on the morning after Ireland's second play-off game, when he thought he saw the Leicester City defender Sean St Ledger trying, but failing, to hail a taxi on the side of a road in the Dublin suburb of Cabra.

St Ledger had ended the night at a party in the area and was trying to get into the city centre in order to link up with his team-mates and Lennon who, like the player, was a lifelong Aston Villa fan, was delighted to swing his van around and give him a lift.

That night the celebrations continued and St Ledger brought Lennon along to one of Dublin's most famous pubs to meet several other members of the team.

Keith Andrews

The West Bromwich Albion midfielder was 13 in late 1993 when the Republic of Ireland went to Belfast hoping to wrap up a place at the World Cup in America the following year, but it turned out to be quite a night and summer for the young Dubliner.

"My uncle Des called to the house," he recalled recently, "and said to me: 'Listen, if we qualify I'll take you to the World Cup.' So you can imagine what I was like watching the game. When Jimmy Quinn scored that goal, I was actually contemplating killing Jimmy Quinn. And then when Alan McLoughlin scored the equaliser … oh my God. I actually played against him years later in a reserve game and I had to go up to him on the pitch and just say: 'I owe you so much.'"

The draw meant qualification and Andrews was behind the goal in Giants Stadium when Ray Houghton secured a famous win over the Italians, although he and his family based themselves in Toronto where they had relatives.

When it came time to head to New York for the game, he says, the whole extended clan simply squeezed into a single camper van and hit the road.

Damien Duff

When he scored a goal in Ireland's win against Saudi Arabia at the World Cup in 2002 the Fulham winger delighted the locals by celebrating with a Japanese‑style bow, but he might regret it now.

Nearly a decade later his team-mate Stephen Kelly revealed that Duff, perhaps the most shy of all the Irish players, still turns up to training with the London club to find fans from Japan hoping to meet him.

Keiren Westwood

Shay Given's back-up has taken the scenic route to England's top flight, working his way up through the lower leagues after being let go as a teenager by Manchester City and then almost quitting the game when the phone rang.

"I know how precious it is to be in the Premier League because I came very close to not being in football," he said. "I was filling out forms for the police at my mum's house when I got the call to go to Carlisle, so it's funny how things turn out. If I was a bit quicker and brighter I might have become a policeman. At that stage I was just looking for a job, I had bills to play and had to help my mum and dad and family out and not working and having any money is not great.

"Going to the conference [England's fifth division] as a skinny 19-year-old was a real eye-opener and getting battered from pillar to post does give you a real desire to make your dreams possible and try to achieve something with your career.

"But just having a job was an absolute blessing for me at the time because the summer I had was wretched. I was passed from pillar to post, had a trial here and there, promises of contracts which were not going to happen and in the end I was going to join the police force."

Emmet Malone is the football correspondent at the Irish Times

Click here to read the profile of Shane Long

And click here to read the tactical analysis of Ireland Read More

هل تريد وضع المحتوى السابق فى موقعك او مدونتك مجانا؟؟
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.

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