American fan Peggy Whitney agreed. "Hopefully the other countries will get stronger as the years progress, bring their level of play up to the Canadians and the Americans."

VOA: standard.2010.02.15

Recognising he had a fairly limited group of players at his disposal, with the exception of a handful of talented names such as Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Shay Given, Trapattoni executed a well-organised game-plan that would see the Irish progress as the only unbeaten team in the World Cup play-off draw.

BBC: Why Trapattoni would suit Nigeria

Martin McGuinness's comments on Inside Politics sounded like the party's bottom line, even though his invocation of Nelson Mandela as an example of a prisoner who had gone on to play a role in political progress only served to infuriate Paul Travers more.

BBC: Mary Travers killer controversy too recent for Stormont