Collinas of tomorrow

By Jim Wirth in Krakow

The contrasting emotions of victory and defeat in football are rarely as visible as they were at the UEFA Regions' Cup team hotel on Tuesday night.

Miserable news
Devastated by their 4-2 defeat by Kahovka-Kzeso in Brzesko, Republic of Ireland players queued for the phones in the hotel lobby to pass on the bad news to their friends and family back home that, for this year at least, their hopes of winning Europe's top amateur title have evaporated.

Victory dance
Meanwhile, outside on the forecourt, the Vasca players and their sizeable entourage were celebrating winning their place in Saturday's final with a riotous dance, as a player with a pipe and drum, draped in the Basque regional flag, led his party in a jubilant square dance.

Our apologies
Members of the team's entourage were upset about a previous reference to their singing at the hotel bar here in Krakow. We did not underline firmly enough that they have excellent singing voices and, moreover, incorrectly asserted that their coaching staff were involved. They were not.

Beautiful singer
The men in good voice on Sunday night were the senior members of the Vasca football association. A little bird told uefa.com that Irish goalkeeper David Conroy also has a beautiful singing voice, but it seemed doubtful that he would be demonstrating that on Tuesday night.

Higher stakes
The tournament remains of huge importance to the players, but for the six referees and eight assistants gaining experience at the tournament in the hope of becoming international-standard officials, the stakes are arguably higher. As mentors on UEFA's young talent programme, former Northern Irish international referee Leslie Irvine and his Polish counterpart Ryszard Wojcik have been handed the task of putting the gifted officials through their paces in Malopolska.

Vital opportunity
"It's a privilege for me to be spending some time in Poland with these very talented young referees," Irvine told uefa.com. "This is a fantastic opportunity for all the players in this tournament but equally for my team of referees. It's vitally important for their performances on the field and off the field."

Referees' solidarity
The referees are staying away from the players at their own base in Krakow, but the relationship between the multinational array of officials is every bit as warm as the one that exists between the players at the team hotel. "Right from the moment we gathered here I have tried to instill a spirit of friendship and a spirit of family among the referees and they have bought into this wholeheartedly," Irvine said. "We eat together, we are similarly clad, we take trips together and there is a tremendous spirit of camaraderie."

Serious matter
However, for all the convivial atmosphere there are serious issues at stake. Only one refereeing team will be chosen to officiate at Saturday's Regions' Cup final, and the competition to maintain the standards of excellence required is at once friendly and fierce.

Narrow margin
And as Irvine admitted, the margin in standards between the winners and the 'losers' will be a narrow one. "They are talented referees otherwise they would not be at this tournament, so what we are looking for is not basic qualities but small refinements to improve the quality of each of those referees," he said.

'Tremendous opportunity'
"This is a tremendous opportunity for them to experience all sorts of football cultures from each corner of Europe," he added. Once the cloud of defeat has lifted over some of the teams in the players' hotel in Krakow, they will realise those words apply to them too.