WORLD CUP 2010 QUALIFYING:MARCO TARDELLI yesterday welcomed the result of Saturday's World Cup qualifier in Sofia where hosts Bulgaria and group top seeds Italy played out a goalless draw.

But the Ireland assistant manager suggested that the manner in which Cyprus drew in Tbilisi - where the visitors missed a second-half penalty - underlines the potential difficulty of Wednesday's game at Croke Park.

Most of the Irish players know only too well just how tricky the Cypriots can be and Tardelli laughed when asked whether he had watched the Republic's two nightmarish encounters with the Mediterranean "minnows" from the last campaign.

"Yes, every day!" he said with a laugh. "Every day. But," he continued, "there is a different mentality in the Ireland team now. I think now we come to play against Cyprus in a better position because we have the trust and the confidence we need."

In Tbilisi over the weekend the Cypriots provided further evidence of their continuing improvement by narrowly missing out on matching the result achieved by Ireland against the Georgians in a neutral venue.

"Cyprus is a good team, though, with good players and good motivation. We can't forget last year, Cyprus beat Ireland 5-2, and 1-1 at home. They are very dangerous; they also missed a penalty on Saturday so we need to take this match very seriously.

"This next match for Ireland is very, very dangerous."

Like Giovanni Trapattoni, the former international had been hoping for an Italy win on Saturday, "because," he says, "Bulgaria would have stayed on only one point but the draw is good also for us".

Though they've never explicitly admitted it, the management team's comments have repeatedly suggested that, believing top spot to be beyond the Irish, their preference is for Italy to win the group, taking as many points as possible from the Bulgarians along the way to aid Ireland's campaign to secure a place in the play-off.

If the Irish are going to upset the second seeds, however, they need to be beating the group's lesser sides at home and that means making a return to winning ways against a Cyprus side that have come on to a considerable extent in recent years.

Trapattoni looks likely, at least, to have a strong panel available to him for the game. Steve Finnan and Steven Reid are absent, but the only two of the now 26-man squad to miss training yesterday were Caleb Folan and Alex Bruce, both of whom were rested over the weekend with minor groin strains.

"There are only two players with a problem, but not too much," said Tardelli. "I think for Wednesday, it's okay."

Andy Keogh also sat out the tail end of training yesterday but the Italian insisted that the young Dubliner is fine. "He stopped because he played 70 minutes in the last match (Thursday's B win over Nottingham Forest), there's no problem."

The former Juventus midfielder was upbeat about the midweek outing in Dalymount where, he said, "we found these new players, which is very important for the Ireland team and very important for the future".

None of the new arrivals, however, is expected to play a prominent part on Wednesday with John O'Shea set to switch to right back as Paul McShane comes in to partner Richard Dunne in central defence. Liam Miller, meanwhile, is the front-runner to fill the vacancy in central midfield ahead of a handful of hopefuls, including Darron Gibson.

The only other change to the side that started in Mainz and Montenegro last month will be the return of Damien Duff whose presence should significantly boost the attacking side of Ireland's game.

"After the injury (that prevented his travelling last month) we went to see Damien every week and he has done well," says Tardelli. "He is very important for Ireland but so too are the other players . . . and the supporters. I hope there will be many supporters in Croke Park. We need all the support against Cyprus."

Asked about the squad's preparations for the game so far, QPR full back Damien Delaney said that while the 5-2 defeat may still play on the minds of those who were involved, it has not really featured Trapattoni's agenda for video analysis. "Nah, we haven't gone back that far to be honest," he said. "It's just been clips from some of their recent games and clips from some of ours."