Irish take their time in Kazakhstan

As the Irish squad settle in to their base in Astana, following an eight-hour journey which saw them arrive in the capital of Kazakhstan after midnight, Giovanni Trapattoni has revealed they will be turning back the clock for the duration of their stay here, in this massive country which has one foot in Europe and the other in Asia.

“Yes, we stick with Irish time,” the manager confirmed, meaning that, as much as possible, the squad will adhere to eating and sleeping times which are five hours behind the actual clock in Kazakhstan.

In effect, it means the Irish players will eat their breakfast between 1pm and 3pm, local time.

And Trapattoni isn’t worried that the far-flung nature of the destination for this World Cup qualifier will have a detrimental effect on his team’s performance here tomorrow.

“I once played on a Sunday in Austria and then I played in the Maracana (in Brazil) on the Wednesday,” he recalled with a smile as he spoke to reporters. It was 10 hours of travel but I was 22 years of age — not old like you and me!”

Trapattoni also indicated there will be wholesale change for next week’s friendly at Craven Cottage, with many first-teamers from Kazakhstan likely to be excused duty. “In the next game in London, against Oman, we have the possibility of giving the other group a chance.”

The five-hour time difference means tomorrow night’s game has a 10pm kick-off in Kazakhstan and a 5pm kick-off in Ireland.