World Youth Championships: Mary Hannigan reports from the United Arab Emirates on the mood in the Irish camp.

The Khaleej Times, one of the local English language newspapers in Al Ain, reported yesterday that the management of Egyptian club Ismaieli, who are preparing for the Arab Champions League finals, "kidnapped their players from the training camp of the national under-20 team and sent them to an unknown place", so keen were they to have the players available for the finals. Egypt, then, the last squad to arrived for these championships, were a few men lighter than they'd planned when they touched down.

Rushden and Diamonds manager Brian Talbot might have been tempted to adopt Ismaieli tactics in an effort to retain the services of his young midfielder David Bell between now and Christmas, but Bell is happy enough to be where he is, preparing for Ireland's opening game against Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Who do Rushden play Saturday? "Well, it was Colchester last Saturday."

"Next Saturday?"

"I don't know, to be honest - all I know is we're playing Saudi Arabia here," he grinned.

Rushden are, in fact, away to Port Vale, but while Bell wishes his club-mates well he'll be happy enough to line out at the 12,000-seat Sheikh Khalifa stadium on Saturday, rather than Vale Park, Stoke-on-Trent.

"If you'd said to me a few months ago that I'd be here now in the United Arab Emirates, being interviewed by all these reporters, I'd have said 'yeah, right'. I was elated to be added to the squad and just very thankful really."

Bell was the last addition to manager Gerry Smith's under-20 panel after declaring for the Republic of Ireland during the summer. Also eligible for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, he was put on standby for the England under-19 team and invited to train with the Scottish under-21s. In the end, he opted for the country of his father's birth, a native of Buncrana, Co Donegal.

The right decision? He looks up at the cloudless sky, looks over at his team-mates playing head tennis in the luxurious outdoor pool, beams and says: "Standing here, with the sun out, I think I've made the right decision, yeah. I want to represent Ireland and do the best I can for Ireland, I just can't believe I'm at a World Cup, that's all."

A poignant day, too, for the 19-year-old. While he was training at the university grounds in Al Ain the funeral was taking place of his Belfast-born grandmother, Josephine, at home.

"It's been hard. I spoke to my family about it, but the way my Granny was she'd have wanted me to stay out here and do the best I can for myself, for Ireland and for the family, so that's what I'm going to do. Everybody's been great, we held a minute's silence before training to remember her, so that helped a lot."

Barring any late training mishaps Bell is an almost certain starter in the centre of midfield for Ireland on Saturday, but there are doubts over the fitness of Darren Potter, who would play alongside him. The Liverpool midfielder damaged ankle ligaments on Sunday and has sat out training since, using crutches the past two days to take the weight off the injury.

"He had the ankle X-rayed but it was all clear and he'll be getting intensive treatment until Saturday. There's a bit of bruising and swelling, but we're hopeful he'll be okay," said Smith.

"I think he's going to be a big player in this tournament but I also think he's going to be a main player in the senior squad in two or three years time, he's an excellent prospect - and David Bell is not far behind him, two class acts in my opinion."

Smith and his staff's main task until now has been to ensure the players are acclimatised before the opening game, with most of the squad experiencing significant weight loss after their first days training. Temperatures have reached 30 degrees this week, but have dropped to 20 degrees around the time Ireland will kick-off against Saudi Arabia (5.45 local time).

"The first couple of days were difficult, but the weight loss is good now, the recovery is good. Still, in these kind of temperatures possession is everything, you just cannot give it away, so that will be crucial for us."

While Smith was content with Ireland's run-out against Al Ain reserves on Monday, which they won 2-0, he had some cause for concern at the Saudis 2-0 win over Argentina, the reigning under-20 champions and one of the pre-tournament favourites here.

"They were beaten 3-2 by Burkina Faso in their first friendly, but then turned around and beat Argentina 2-0 - and I thought Argentina were giving it the full lash - so that's a fair turn-around. They're a big team, strong physically, plenty of movement, very mobile, a couple of very handy players. It's going to be a tough game on Saturday, there's no question about it.

"Declan (McIntyre, goalkeeping coach) saw the Ivory Coast as well (they beat Dubai club side Nassar 2-1 on Monday) and he thought they were quite good, and you know about Mexico over the years, so it'll be tough, very, very tough."

Smith, though, reports a happy camp, one that has been hugely impressed with the facilities in Al Ain, both at the training grounds and the stadium that will be used for the group matches.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, meanwhile, will attend today's opening game between the hosts and Slovakia in Abu Dhabi and will also be at Ireland's game against Saudi Arabia - as will Brian Kerr, who arrives in the Emirates tomorrow.

Rain, it would seem, is unlikely during Saturday's game. "Have you had rain recently," the Sri Lankan hotel porter was asked yesterday.

"Oh yes," he said, "we had a shower three months ago."