Mohammed Peyravani walks across the hotel foyer latched to a friend. Another swings through the revolving door swirling cigarette smoke, chewing gum and discharging a high-wattage Iranian smile. More kisses. More hugs.

Peyravani is part of the Iranian team defence which some commentators have condemned with faint praise, others with open derision. But nothing is a problem. not the freezing sleet. Not the fact they have not yet set eyes on Lansdowne Road.

"Come on boy, hey," he shouts at a team-mate. Kisses. hugs.

"Sorry," he apologises. "Irish match videos? "Yes, we watched two of the Irish games - against Portugal and Holland. Holland should have won the game but they didn't," he shrugs. "The Irish players are strong but we are strong players. Iran is a smart team and we are optimistic about this match.

"Ireland's weakness? Maybe they don't score enough goals," he says.

It has been a fateful path for Ireland and Iran. The Asian group play-off winners should have beaten Bahrain in their pool match to avoid this match and didn't, explains the defender. And Ireland should have lost to Holland and didn't. Fate. For that Iran get Ireland and November misery.

"The weather is good sometimes and sometimes not. That will not bother us," he says. Nor will Roy Keane's presence or absence in midfield.

"Yes, we watch the Premiership and we also watch the German bundesliga, so we have seen the players who play in the UK although we do not know all of the Irish players.

"It's our profession, football, so we watch it a lot. It does not matter if Keane is injured or if he is playing. Our goal is to go to the World Cup. We were the better team . . . in our pool but because we lost to Bahrain we are here now."

The Pirouzi club player welcomes Tony Zadeh, an Iranian supporter from New York. He is upbeat about the match, downbeat about the ticket allocations. he says he is one of 50 fans from New York with another 270 coming in from California.

"Supporters are coming from all over," he says, "yet they only give us 3,500 tickets in a stadium of 35,000. it is very hard to get a seat for the match. We are very disappointed. Luckily I know the players so I have a ticket, but as many as 15,000 would have attended if there were tickets available."

Zadeh's complaint seems in part accurate. Most of the 3,500 tickets appear to have gone to the Islamic centre in London because of the large Iranian community living there.

Fans queued for two hours to snap up tickets and the Iranian embassy were considering chartering flights to Dublin for the match.

There is a lightness about the team milling around the Burlington hotel. Anonymously, they lounge about.

"What time's the game?" asks an American tourist to two players seated by the lift. They smile at him. He smiles at them. They smile at him. "Okay, good luck guys," he says, and drifts off. So does Peyravani.