Republic of Ireland defender John O’Shea has told RTÉ Radio that there is a belief in the camp to topple the leading sides in Euro 2012 this summer.
O’Shea, speaking in Dublin today to launch the 'Ford Republic of Football' campaign, said in an interview to be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 that the qualification campaign has given the squad huge confidence ahead of the challenges of Croatia, Spain and Italy.
He said: "We can achieve a lot because the belief that the manager has built up within the squad to be so defensively minded in terms of how we approach games.
"But not just being defensively-minded, but the fact you are frustrating teams and you can cause problems on the counter-attack.
"The clean sheets we got during the campaign, some of the great goals we scored, the set-pieces we can cause teams lots of problems from, there is lots of factors.
"It is all well and good saying these things but the acid test will obviously be Croatia in the first game. We’ll be making sure we are well prepared and we’ll be able to cause these teams problems.
"We’re under no illusions, you are playing Croatia and people are saying ‘that is the most important game’.
"Every game is going to be so important. The first game of the group stages we know will be very important but we have Spain and Italy then and it is all to play for.
"Believe me the players are looking forward to making an impact at this tournament. I think we can."
