McCarthy confident over midfield pair

Jason McAteer and Matt Holland both missed the Republic of Ireland's first training session here yesterday but neither midfielder has given their manager Mick McCarthy cause for concern.

Both are nursing ankle knocks picked up in Thursday's 2-1 friendly defeat by Nigeria, and Holland also had a slight sore throat. They sat out the early morning light training session, while the other 21 players engaged in some walking and jogging in the searing heat and humidity.

"The lads just had a blow today, just a sweat, to get their lungs open," said McCarthy. "It was just a case of getting them back into the swing of things after travelling for 24 hours. I am not worried about Jason or Matt's fitness levels, they are extremely fit, and I am sure they will be back in training tomorrow.

"We'll not be doing masses while we are here, and certainly we'll be doing more technical and tactical work when we get to Izumo next week. Here it is just about getting acclimatised. It is hotter and more humid here than in Tokyo, which is one of the reasons we came here."

The short session at the Francisco Palacious Sports Complex was meant to blow away the cobwebs following the long journey to the Pacific from Dublin. The players were weighed before and after the session and are being encouraged to drink five litres of water and energy drinks each day as their bodies come to terms with the conditions.

"We want the players to get out in the sun – as long as they don't get burned – and behave as they normally would," said McCarthy. "It is important for them to get used to the sun and the heat. As long as they replace the fluids and carbohydrates then we don't see a problem, because if they are in the sunshine every other hour they will lose an extra 150 calories over and above what they normally do.

"But we have not changed our routine because we qualified for the finals doing certain things and we don't want to do anything different. They are eating the same foods, mainly pasta, but they might find they are eating more if they are losing carbohydrates in training."

The Republic squad fly from here to Izumo on Friday, and then on Saturday face a friendly against Sanfrecce Hiroshima. McCarthy then plans to go and watch the friendly between his team's Group E rivals Cameroon and England in Kobe.