Given expected to be fit

SOCCER/ World Cup 2006 qualifying: The Irish squad arrived in Tel Aviv last night with Brian Kerr anticipating that he will have a full squad to choose from for Saturday's World Cup qualifying game against Israel.

Kerr said he was happy the squad he has brought with him for the third of Ireland's away games in this campaign, the last against a team that might be considered a qualification rival, is as strong as he could have expected, although he cautioned against over-confidence ahead of a game with opponents who, like Ireland, have already drawn with France in Paris and held the Swiss.

Shay Given remained the only significant injury concern ahead of the game yesterday. The Newcastle goalkeeper skipped the squad's training session in Dublin prior to departure and did some light exercises instead.

Kerr, however, said that he expects the goalkeeper to be fit and suggested that the 28- year-old is likely to take part in at least one of the Irish pre-match run-outs in the Israeli capital, most likely the one tomorrow at the Ramat-Gan Stadium, the venue for the match.

"Shay's just back from the hospital," said Kerr yesterday morning, "and the scan showed that he's got a very slight strain. He has," he joked, "a bit of a pain in the arse, as we might say around here. It's nothing that a couple of days won't fix and we expect him to be fit for Saturday."

Not for the first time Kerr identified Saturday as one of the key points in the campaign, with Ireland's game at the very least rivalled for importance by Switzerland's visit to Paris.

"It's a big day all right, but I think all we can do is worry about what we have to do," said Kerr. "The way we're looking at it is that we have to go to Tel Aviv and get what we can out of the game and then we can look at where we are.

"After that we've got three home games to look forward to and hopefully they'll go well for us. We're not setting any specific targets," he added, "or coming up with numbers of points that we will have to have in order to qualify. The fact is that we said we'd take the two big games early on and we're probably a little bit ahead of where most people would have thought we are now.

"The match between France and Switzerland is obviously very important to us, but we can't affect the outcome. All we can do is concentrate on our own games, look to win them and maybe hope that a couple of other results go our way as well."

Security is expected to be tight in Tel Aviv, but Kerr insists that neither he nor the players are unduly concerned about any risks connected with the trip.

"Three of the lads played over there earlier in the season and I'm not even sure they were aware there was an issue. A lot of us have been there before and I certainly haven't had any problems. The people I've talked to more recently about Tel Aviv talk about a buzzing, vibrant, European-style city.

"None of it is an issue, though, the trip is about football and the important thing is that we give the Israelis the respect they deserve. We'll certainly be doing that."

Israeli journalists who travelled to Ireland this week to watch the Irish train observed that the Irish would presumably feel that they are going into the game as favourites given the number of their players currently playing in the Premiership.

"I don't think that's all that relevant," insisted the Ireland manager. "You've had a few players there, (Walid) Badir at Wimbledon and (Idan) Tal at Everton, and you have one (Tal Ben Haim at Bolton Wanderers) there now, but you also have a couple of lads in Spain and Turkey. The fact is, though, that the characteristics of each national team differ and I don't think it's all that important where the players play.

"Israel have a good side. They're ranked in the 50s in the world, a little behind Switzerland, but people who've been watching them would be aware that they've had a third, a third and a second in recent qualifying campaigns. They've been knocking on the door and they've played well under Avraham Grant.

"A couple of years ago Noel O'Reilly went out to watch their game with Russia. He was going to watch Russia at the time, but Israel won the game 2-0 and I remember him coming back and telling me they were a good team.

"People have said that they're the dark horse of the group but I wouldn't ever have agreed with that. What's definitely true now is that there is still very much four teams involved in this race. The bottom two might improve and they might take points off the bigger sides, but, with respect to them, they're not going to finish first or second at this stage.

"For the rest of us what will probably decide it is who manages to pick up points away from home, because you would probably be expected to win your home games. France haven't done that, but to be fair they're probably the one team in the group that you'd feel just might be capable of going on and winning all of their remaining games."