Traffic and tremors may well be visitors’ greatest obstacles
LIFE expectancy in Moldova for men is the lowest in Europe at 66. That folk keel over so early could be attributed to some of the jaywalking nonsense we spied on arrival yesterday as locals splish-splashed across darkened roads oblivious to kamikaze taxi drivers bearing down on them.
It’s appears to be an Eastern Europe thing, this desire to be Nico Rosberg in a souped-up Dacia.
Traffic lights are ignored, the braking is late, weaving is compulsory, as is the absence of having a clue where your passengers might want to be dropped off.
Clearly, none of these guys ever studied for The Knowledge.
Peering out through misted windows, there was as many garish casino lights as giant billboards advertising the candidates in the forthcoming elections for President.
There have been 12 declared runners, all as honest as any political head, no doubt.
The skies were weeping on our arrival at 6.15am local time and continued through the day, causing traffic to grind to a halt on the grey, slippery streets of Chisinau.
It’s a city with an identity crisis as many locals of Russian empathy insist on calling it by its former name, Kishinev, which was associated with a massacre of local Jews over a hundred years ago.
Of the European capitals the Ireland team will visit in this World Cup campaign, Belgrade and Vienna can boast the broad-banked Danube, while Cardiff has the quirky, gurgling Taff.
In contrast, here it’s the barely beloved, and heavily polluted, Bic. Anyone who swims in its murky waters doesn’t deserve to live beyond 66.
Money is scarce in a country struggling for financial oxygen — the average income per head is a paltry $2,560 dollars, the lowest in Europe.
Ukraine, it’s burly neighbour, is the second poorest while Romania, a kind of big brother who looks out for its sickly sibling, is 10th poorest.
You’d reckon the chances of a ‘Fake Sheikh’ sting here are slim but beer costs buttons and the Ireland fans have been raising many a glass in support of the local breweries.
In geographical shape, Moldova is akin to Italy, complete with boot and heel, but it has no coastline which is a no-no for tourism, and it relies heavily on wine production to keep things ticking over.
For O’Neill, this incursion into Europe’s poorest country is about yielding a three-point dividend and avoiding slipping through the cracks of Group D.
As Moldova is prone to earthquakes – our hotel room offers hints on what to do in the event of a tremor – the Ireland boss will tread warily this evening, lest the tectonic plates shift under his qualifying campaign.
The Zimbru pitch is tighter than Tolka Park and the smart 10,000
Anyone who swims in the Bic, doesn’t deserve to live beyond 66
all-seater stadium, complete with welcoming green seats, could have been transplanted into Ballymun in the 90s, as skyscraper flats tower over it along one side.
Admission prices, for locals, are just €4 which wouldn’t be enough to cover the cost of the match programme back in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
It’s a working-class setting which will demand a blue-collar response from the ranks of the Republic artisans.
O’Neill was critical that his team didn’t don their ‘overalls’ in Thursday’s unconvincing victory against Georgia; no such oversights can be accepted this evening.
The Derry native wasn’t showing his sunny side at a terse press conference last night which began with a question about his passion in criminology.
He didn’t bite but if Ireland don’t get out with a win tonight it will be a felony.