Fans rush to see crunch match

IRISH fans in the grip of World Cup fever ahead of the make-or-break game against Saudi Arabia were flooding into Japan yesterday in a last-minute bid to see the team progress to the second round.

Ireland supporters confident of success have been flying out at the last minute after watching their team draw against Germany last week.

Mick McCarthy’s side have to win to by two clear goals to go through.

Brother and sister Dermot and Maeve Burke, from Dublin, only arrived in Japan yesterday and do not even have clean clothes or their Ireland flags after their luggage was delayed in Paris.

But in Yokohama both said they had felt they had to come to join their brother John, 30, who was already out watching the tournament.

Dermot, 38, said: ‘‘I was not planning on coming out before. It was a 24-hour decision - I woke up and said ’I’m going, it’s a great event, I’m going to follow the Ireland team.’

‘‘I’m going to stay out here now as long as they are in it. It is more important to me to be here supporting the boys than anything else.’’

Maeve, 30, said her own decision had been just as natural. ‘‘I only decided to come on Friday. I will be paying for it for months. I was just watching it on the television and I said ‘That’s it, I’m going.’

‘‘It’s the chance of a lifetime. I’m a bit nervous now, I would feel better if we had our mascots but they are all in Paris with the rest of our things.’’

Brother John, who was on route back to Dublin from Sydney, Australia, said it had not taken much to persuade the family to come out to Japan.

‘‘I sent a little short e-mail saying they really should get over - next I got an e-mail saying they were.

‘‘I think there’s a big draw for people to come and follow the team - people want to be here. They know they can’t afford it but once someone here says come over they will do everything they can to get here.’’

Dermot, who like his sister arrived with no ticket for today’s game, agreed: ‘‘There is an atmosphere in Ireland, there are a lot of people heading out to Korea anticipating a victory.’’

But problems getting through on ticket telephone hotlines and through the FIFA web site meant last-minute arrivals were having difficulty getting hold of a ticket for today’s match,’’ Dermot added.

‘‘We will be there, whatever it takes.’’