Saudi Arabia: The Saudi community in Dublin, such as it is, ironically bridges the vast gap between the city's Germans and Cameroonians. They worship in Clonskeagh, in the sleek surrounds of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, across a verdant wood from St Killian's. They shop for food in Madina, a Middle-Eastern specialty store on Moore Street, amid the bustle of the city's Africans.
To talk about a Saudi community, however, is an exaggeration. It was, indeed, difficult to track down Saudis for the purposes of this article. According to the Garda National Immigration Bureau, only 13 Saudis on student visas or work permits have registered here since the Garda system was computerised last September; October is peak time for the annual registrations, so the total is likely to be little higher. And the Department of Justice says the number of Saudi asylum-seekers is negligible.
The Saudis here are part of a wider series of Arab and Muslim communities - ethnic differences do not appear, on the face of it, to be a fundamental consideration among the hundreds of men of various shades and colours milling around socialising when Friday prayers are finished; many of them, in addition, are also part of the city's international student community at places such as the Royal College of Surgeons - they're the young men running from the mosque to get to afternoon lectures.
And, yes, there are women, though not at Friday prayers. Dhada Al Saad is a 29-year-old from Riyadh who has been three years in Ireland. A master's student in psychotherapy at UCD, she'll be around for her country's lunchtime match with the Republic of Ireland on June 11th because "I'm waiting to defend my thesis".
SO will she watch the game? "To be honest, this is the first I heard about it." She says this is a function of her own not-terribly-sporty personality: "A large number of Saudi girls love football, but it's not for me - maybe I'm different, serious. If it's something really international, and it's my country playing, of course I'll watch it."
There are no doubts either about Khalid Al Kindy's intentions on the day. A PhD dentistry student in UCC, he is passionate and knowledgable about soccer - and so he is quietly worried that by the time Ireland and Saudi Arabia meet, they may have little to play for.
How will it go? "There is a saying in Arabic: 'The football is round'. The match may roll in whatever direction." He knows Saudi Arabia were "very lucky" to qualify in the way they did, but he also gets annoyed when he recalls Ireland's plodding, just-get-through-it performance in the Tehran play-off game: "If you're looking for the World Cup, that's not the standard you want to play with. The attitude should be: 'We are here to defeat any team in front of us.'"
Like Khalid, Trinity dental PhD student Asmaa Al Mosaid has endured friendly teasing from Irish classmates ever since the World Cup draw.
After three years in Ireland, her social life is, she says, hugely campus-based. "I virtually know nothing about outside the college."
Asmaa has also resided in England, and says it was "easier to live" as an Arab woman there. What about missing out on pub culture?
"I have Irish friends who do not drink. I don't feel like I'm missing something."
She covers her hair, but not her face, the same as she would do at home in Riyadh. Misconceptions about Muslim women abound, she says. "We go out, socialise, work, study - as you can see."
Dhada Al Saad acknowledges at least the appearance of social awkwardness. "Irish people feel we are not socialising. We cannot be with males, and we can't be in pubs. It makes us appear distant."
Of course some Muslims in Ireland go to pubs, and perhaps refrain from drinking. Other men here go the whole hog, as it were, drinking alcohol and having Irish girlfriends, Al Saad says. Perhaps it's her psychotherapy training, but she doesn't sound in the least judgmental.
The Republic of Ireland play Saudi Arabia on June 11th
