Seven new faces for Irish qualifying series

THE change of season has coincided with a change of personnel in the Irish international squad.

There are no fewer than seven players who represented Ireland in the World Cup finals in Japan and Korea missing from the squad of 22 for next week’s opening tie in the qualifying series of the European Championship.

Ireland will play Russia in the Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, on Saturday, September 7, in a match that will kick off at 7pm local time (4pm Irish time). It is the first in an eight match series for Ireland with other matches against Switzerland, Albania and Georgia to decide which of the five teams will qualify automatically for the finals in Portugal in 2004. The runners-up will go into a play-off.