Republic of Ireland captain Robbie Keane says confidence in the camp is high ahead of Friday's Euro 2016 play-off first leg in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that the atmosphere reminds him of that ahead of the side's victory over Estonia at the same stage four years ago.
"The calmness of the players reminds me of the Estonia game," he said.
"Going into that game I felt a calm, confident approach from the players and I got that feeling this week in training.
"[Against Estonia] we managed to score four goals away from home. I think this game is going to be a little different, it's not going to be as easy as that, but we certainly have a good chance of going there and getting
something out of the game.
Robbie Keane feels the same calmness & confidence in the Ireland camp this week that he did for the Estonia play-off https://t.co/UKu7TLF7ow
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) November 11, 2015
"The last game in Poland was disappointing. We maybe could have got a draw. We beat the world champions. But all those games don't mean too much now.
"It's about these two games now, how we approach it and how we play.
"It's going to be a hostile atmosphere but the key for us is to go there and get a clean sheet"
"If we can play to the best of our ability and we work together as a team, I'm fairly confident in this group of players that we can get something out of the game."
Ireland conceded just seven goals in 10 qualifying games and Keane believes not conceding in Zenica is crucial to our play-off chances.
"We certainly have to come out of there with something. If we get an away goal it would be great.
"It's going to be a hostile atmosphere but the key for us is to go there and get a clean sheet.
"Back in Ireland, I fancy us against anybody but we have to be wary because they have players that can hurt you.
"We obviously know the main players in Dzeko and Pjanic, who is a very good technical player and can score very good free-kicks."
Keane is relishing the prospect of making the finals in France next summer, which would be his third major interntional tournament as a player, following World Cup 2002 and Euro 2012.
"This is why we play the game," he said. "This is why you play international football, this is why you play football as a kid growing up.
"Having those memories of the big competitions, watching Ray Houghton score that goal at the World Cup in the USA, 2002 I played in...
"We're on the brink now of qualifying for a major major tournament. It's exciting.
"We certainly want to finish this campaign off with qualification to France. We started that campaign off with that goal in our mind and it would be disappointing if we didn't do it."
