As the story of the Irish squad's first day in Nigeria was recounted to them at the team hotel in Ibadan yesterday, the three local women, who had come to welcome all the visiting teams and maybe, just maybe, drum up a bit of business for their Lebanese restaurant in the heart of town, were far from surprised.

"That's Nigeria..oh yes, that's Nigeria . . . Oh yes, that's Nigeria all right," they giggled repeatedly as the saga of the Irish delegation's previous 15 hours or so unfolded. But twenty minutes drive away, on a training pitch beside the stadium where Brian Kerr's side will take on their three group opponents, the Republic of Ireland boss still wasn't able to see the funny side of things.

At least, though, he was doing what he had spent Monday night telling every local official who would listen that he wanted to do: trying to get his players ready for what will be, in conditions at least as gruelling as in Malaysia two years ago, an extremely demanding World Youths Championships.

The strain was easy to see on the faces of the players as they returned to their hotel after the two-hour session. Robbie Keane, though obviously tired, simply shrugged and said that everyone would get used to it.

Around him, there were those who didn't look so sure. An interesting test of the players' ability to adapt will be this afternoon's friendly against South Korea, which, though the venue remained a point of contention between the FAI and the organisers last night, is due to be played at four o'clock.

Kerr has everybody more or less fit for the run out. Celtic's Ger Crossley came through training yesterday without any problems after shaking off a minor knee injury, and Keith Doyle shrugged off an even less troublesome infection.

Only West Ham goalkeeper Alex O'Reilly's participation in the game is seriously in question. The Irish first choice took a knock early on in yesterday's outing, but nobody in the camp seemed too concerned by the extent of the problem last night.

"The problem with Alex doesn't look that serious," said Kerr, who went on, however, to express some misgivings about his players' ability to come to grips with the heat and humidity before Sunday's first game against Mexico.

"They suffered out there today. I think they were tired when they started, but the training took its toll on them and a few of them were struggling by the time we came in.

"I wanted to have a second session this evening, but they're too tired now, which makes me a little fearful. But then I'd probably have been the same at the same stage of the build-up to Malaysia, and they ended up adapting pretty well to the conditions over there."

Today's game, at least, in which just about everybody is expected to play some part, should provide a welcome distraction for Kerr and his players from the problems that have dogged the early part of the Irish team's stay here.

Tempers quickly became frayed on Monday night when the 28-strong Irish party landed at Lagos airport to discover that their planned transfer to their base, 140 kilometres away at Ibadan, had been postponed until the following morning by local organisers on the grounds of safety.

Kerr, along with other FAI officials and the Irish ambassador to Nigeria, Joe Lynch, had been assured last week that the team could travel straight to their hotel upon arrival and that an army escort would be provided for the journey.

After two-and-a-half hours of wrangling in the terminal building, though, a senior army officer made it clear that the trip couldn't be made until yesterday.

Things then went from bad to worse when there were long delays in finding the team accommodation for the night, and it was well past midnight when Nigeria 99 officials finally managed to get the hotel to which the Irish had been sent to drop a demand for $6,000 - to be paid up front.

The Croatians, who paid the money, looked less than happy about their treatment yesterday as they prepared to leave the Airport Hotel, while the Australians, it emerged later, had been subjected to much the same routine on Sunday night when they arrived in the city.

"It was bad all right," sighed the Ireland manager at the end of what had by then been a very long day, "but to be honest we expected some problems and I've seen worse than today on other trips away."

The difficulties didn't end there for the Republic's panel, though. Tournament organisers attempted to further delay their transfer the following morning, this time because the formalities of the team's accreditation hadn't been completed.

"We had mentioned it to them several times the previous night and kept being told that it was no problem, that we could do it all some other time," said FAI official Aidan Gallagher after he and the rest of the party had finally completed their 90-minute journey. "Then, when we wanted to go, it seemed to be an enormous problem all of a sudden."

Doubts about training facilities and laundry arrangements - the team have with them enough gear to train three times - remain, but Gallagher, like Kerr, is hoping that as Saturday's tournament kick-off approaches, the level of organisation apparent at these championships will begin to improve dramatically.

A group of Nigerian prostitutes has threatened nude protests at the matches after being barred from hotels by tournament organisers, a local newspaper has said.

The Prime Sunset evening daily quoted Charity Emevon of the Association of Practising Prostitutes of Nigeria as saying hundreds of women would march naked through the streets if authorities did not bow to their demand to be able to operate freely.

Nigeria's military government and the local tournament organising committee have spared no effort to clean up cities where matches will be held to give visitors a good impression of Africa's most populous nation.

"In every country, especially in developed countries, there are prostitutes. It is not a new thing. It is only in Africa or Nigeria that prostitutes are looked at as outcasts," Emevon was quoted as saying.