Some of us fell out of love with Ireland’s football community when so many of them took Roy Keane’s side against Mick McCarthy in the row before the 2002 World Cup finals. But (to paraphrase The Drifters) you can’t stay mad at them for long. Ireland were missed in Germany in 2006 and I can’t imagine that anyone would grudge this grinning green definition of what football support should be a place in South Africa next year.

The players still have a bit to do. A point tonight against their manager’s homeland — the venerable Giovanni Trapattoni will enjoy pitting his wits against Marcello Lippi, under whom Italy were crowned world champions three years ago — would let them make sure of a play-off spot against a less formidable visiting team from Montenegro on Wednesday. Then, however, comes the really tricky bit, because a play-off could involve opposition as daunting as Portugal, France, Russia or Germany.

The trouble is that Fifa is to seed the draw for the two-legged matches to decide the last four European qualifiers. Because football is the way it is, and because no one ever supports anything announced by Sepp Blatter — if the Fifa president defended the traditional oblong pitch, everyone would say it should be round or oval — people have moaned, even though seeding is eminently sensible, as is the idea of giving home advantage in the second leg to the notionally stronger country.

I suppose there is a germ of an argument against using the Fifa rankings, but the countries they tend to overrate are outside Europe. By and large, they tell the truth. They will be revised on Friday, but at present Germany are fourth equal. If they lose in Russia today, they could meet Ireland. As could France (tenth) or Portugal (seventeenth) if Carlos Queiroz’s team beat Hungary and Sweden lose a derby in Denmark over this most exciting weekend of the World Cup so far.

On the other hand, Ireland could be handed Croatia (as high as ninth despite their 9-2 aggregate defeat by England) or Greece (twelfth), so it’s not all doom and gloom and a stout glass half-empty. True, the memory of 14 years ago at Anfield, where Ireland had to beat Holland for a place at Euro ’96 and the class of Patrick Kluivert confounded them, is painful. But that is no reason to complain about the system.

An open draw could pit Germany against France and that would not help any World Cup, let alone Africa’s first. I know France are something of an embarrassment under Raymond Domenech, whose drawn-out downfall makes Gordon Brown look like a meteorite, but Africa would enjoy another chance to humble them, as Senegal so dramatically did in the opening match of the 2002 World Cup; Didier Drogba and his fellow Ivorians would be first in the queue. For similar reasons, Portugal would be welcome, along with probably the most improved of the old colonials, England.

We all have our personal preferences, but my final four would be Germany, France, Portugal and, because of their support, Ireland. This is on the assumption that joining England, Spain and Holland as group winners would be Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia (a point at home to Slovenia today would do the trick, and all but end Northern Ireland’s hopes of reaching the play-offs), Russia, Serbia and Italy.

The soft spot for Ireland is shared by many in my line of work. From the days of Jack Charlton, they have provided happy memories. My favourite is of turning up at Giants Stadium in the New York suburbs in 1994 expecting to find it half green and half blue, reflecting ethnic origins on the United States’ East Coast. But somehow the greens had a majority — and how they celebrated.

Italy had come to that World Cup with most of the magnificent AC Milan team who had, under Fabio Capello, beaten Barcelona 4-0 to win the Champions League; Arrigo Sacchi fielded Baresi and Costacurta, who had missed the Champions League final because of suspension, Maldini, Tassotti, Albertini, Donadoni and, in the second half, Massaro. They were to go all the way to the World Cup final.

Ireland featured, from Motherwell, Tommy “Cobra” Coyne. But also Roy Keane, Paul McGrath, Andy Townsend and Ray Houghton, whose early dipper left Gianluca Pagliuca clawing air. Manhattan went crazy.