Ireland’s eye is on finals base

THE FAI are already sourcing potential base camps in Russia — fail to prepare, prepare to fail, as Roy Keane might say — but nailing down one of the 65 bases in five geographical clusters should Ireland overcome Denmark won’t be straightforward. Already 23 of the 32 World Cup finalists are known and many of them already have muscled in on the favoured locations. While Moscow has 18 potential camps, it is Sochi which is the most popular. No fewer than 14 finalists have expressed a desire to pitch tent there, even though the Black Sea resort city only has room for two teams. Rostov and Krasnodar, which are in the southern cluster along with Sochi, are also popular base camp venues. With chronic traffic problems, Moscow, so far, is proving a turnoff. For the Euro 2012 finals in Poland, the Republic of Ireland were stationed in the Baltic town of Sopot, where the temperatures were far cooler than in-land. Kaliningrad, the most westerly host city for the finals, is on the Baltic and could come into consideration. Pointedly, it is three hours and 20 minutes flying time from there to Ekaterinburg, the most easterly venue at the finals. Should Ireland advance against Denmark next month, the FAI are likely to wait until after the finals draw in the Kremlin on December 1 to finalise their selection. They will want Ireland manager Martin O’Neill to see for himself what best suits his needs, and those of his squad.