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Muller angry as Ireland face hectic World Cup Qualifier schedule

HOCKEY: IRELAND FINALLY get their World Cup Qualifier underway in Santiago, Chile this afternoon (5pm, Irish time) when they…

STEPHEN FINDLATER in Santiago
Chile
Wed Apr 28 2010 - 01:00

HOCKEY:IRELAND FINALLY get their World Cup Qualifier underway in Santiago, Chile this afternoon (5pm, Irish time) when they face Malaysia following a traumatic build-up which saw the tournament threatened by both an earthquake and a volcano.

Gene Muller’s squad arrived in South America on Monday, seven days after their original flights were due in and two days after the competition commenced with favourites Australia hammering the host nation 5-0.

That the fixture went ahead, though, has incensed coach Muller, who believes it has given both sides an unfair advantage.

Their fixtures have been vastly rescheduled and they must now play four times in five days.

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The competition’s format has also been changed. The top two from an initial five-team group were to play-off in a final but now the country who tops the round-robin competition will take the last available World Cup place.

Their hectic schedule is in stark contrast to Australia and Chile who both can incorporate a four-day break into their plans, which Muller finds unacceptable.

“I know Malaysia, Scotland and Ireland protested. All we heard was that the schedule wasn’t going to change.

“It’s not ideal. We tapered for a tournament that was supposed to start last Saturday so effectively the training volume has been down, the intensity has been down because of this uncertainty.

“But to play four matches in five days with only 48 hours acclimatisation is going to require massive resistance to adversity. There’s a lot of adversity now so we really need to be on our game.”

Muller arrived in Chile on Monday with two fitness concerns in his 18-player panel. Julia O’Halloran has a slight knock, while captain Eimear Cregan has been struck by a bug and was unable to train in the week leading up to the tournament.

Ireland begin with a tricky fixture against a Malaysian side who were within a minute of claiming an automatic spot in the World Cup, denied in the last seconds by India in the Asia Cup.

The Irish got the better of Malaysia 1-0 last year in the Champion’s Challenge, though Muller admits his side were fortunate after soaking up plenty of pressure.

Chile beat the Asian side 1-0 on Monday afternoon, meaning any slip from Ireland in today’s encounter places them under huge pressure to take the qualifying berth away from overwhelming favourites Australia.

IRELAND SQUAD (for the World Cup qualifiers): M Goode (GK, Bray), L Healy (GK, Loreto), M Harvey (Pegasus), R Flinn (Old Alex), C Sargent (Cork Harlequins), E Cregan (capt, Catholic Institute), E Clarke (Dragons, Belgium), B Cleland (Ballymoney), S McCay (Dragons, Belgium), L Jacob (UCD), A Speers (Dragons, Belgium), J OHalloran (UCC), M Frazer (University of Maryland, USA), N Symmons (Loreto), A OFlynn (UCC), E Smyth (Railway Union), L Colvin (Loreto), N Small (Loreto).

IRELAND’S MATCH SCHEDULE – Wednesday, April 28th: Ireland v Malaysia, (5pm Irish time). Thursday, April 29th: Ireland v Scotland, (5pm). Saturday, May 1st: Ireland v Chile, (5pm). Sunday, May 2nd: Ireland v Australia, (3pm).