FAI abandon plan to base squad in Dubai

The FAI have abandoned tentative plans to base themselves in Dubai before travelling to Tehran for the second leg of the forthcoming World Cup play-off against Iran following a meeting between chief executive Brendan Menton, Mick McCarthy and the association's travel agent, Ray Treacy.

Initially, the possibility of spending a couple of nights in the extensively westernised United Arab Emirates city before travelling on to the Iranian capital the day before the game had been considered, but in the wake of McCarthy's fact-finding trip to the Middle East the detour is no longer considered to be necessary.

Menton said yesterday that, after discussing the matter with McCarthy and Treacy, the consensus is that the team will travel directly to Tehran, although the day of departure, either the Sunday or Monday, is only likely to be decided at some point over the coming days.

"Having talked the matter over the feeling is that it will be better to have the extra day or two to acclimatise in Tehran," he said.

"Mick says that everything there is absolutely fine and he doesn't really want the players to have to go through the hassle of an extra flight."

On the safety issue, Menton reiterated his belief that there is little cause for concern with regard to the trip. "I think it's comparable to Bursa two years ago when some people were concerned and everything turned out to be absolutely fine.

"It has been said that there is bombing going on 350 miles away but that was going on last week too when Mick was there and he had absolutely no problems."

Preliminary discussions with the Iranian Football Federation held while McCarthy was in Tehran with Ian Evans, meanwhile, suggest that the tie's second leg will kick-off at 5.30 local time (2.0 p.m. in Ireland).

The match officials, it was also confirmed, would not come from within Europe or Asia.