International Tour:While the promoters of last night's game between Ireland and Ecuador continued to hope that the big "walk up" crowd they were predicting would actually materialise at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, the large contingent of travelling FAI officials on this week's trip were viewing the match as the half-time interval in the first phase of what they view as a play for far larger financial stakes.

Spokesmen for the company behind staging Ireland's two games, Centaro, as well as Major League's Soccer's commercial arm, Soccer United Marketing, who have had a significant role in the two-stop tour, and the FAI themselves declined to reveal the scale of the financial commitments, or potential losses, involved.

But association officials insisted that the Irish are to be paid a guaranteed fee for the team's participation and that there are no fears regarding payment despite the weakness of the squad that have travelled.

Confirmed sales for yesterday's game, billed on the stadium's official website as an encounter between "two international powerhouses", were said to have reached some 13,500 by Tuesday evening, and hopes for the attendance had been revised up to something in the region of 20,000, with most expected to be drawn from the Ecuadorian community, more than 200 of whom turned out to welcome their own rather depleted squad at the airport.

With prices ranging from $35 to $120, it is highly unlikely that that figure would represent anything like break even for Centaro which, in the absence of a more suitable alternative, put last night's game in the 76,000-capacity stadium.

But the company, which has dealt with the FAI regularly in relation to foreign television rights, have wide-ranging interests and the losses involved would not be expected to be a significant problem.

Interest and ticket sales in Saturday's game against Bolivia in Boston, which takes place in the afternoon at the Gillette Stadium, is said to be more substantial.

Within the FAI, though, this trip might be remembered more for the financial groundwork undertaken than the emergence of any new stars from Steve Staunton's somewhat cobbled together panel.

The association's chief executive, John Delaney, and other prominent staff members, notably Packie Bonner, have been busy over the past few nights addressing gatherings of the Irish population here in New York, and similar meetings have been lined up for Boston over the next couple of evenings.

Two of the functions, one in each city, involved low-key question and answer sessions with supporters, but the others have involved members of the local Irish professional classes who, the association hope, might provide a significant source of funding.

More than 200 such emigrants attended a meeting of the Irish Network in New York at Trinity Place, just off Wall Street in the New York's financial district, on Tuesday night, and more than 300 are expected when Delaney and Bonner address members of Boston area of the Irish Chambers of Commerce.

The meetings have been described as a "suck it and see operation" aimed at gauging what level of support might be available from ex-pats for the development of the game back at home.

But already it appears that a substantial fundraising dinner, likely to be attended by Staunton and other prominent association officials, will be run in New York in the late autumn.

"There's a lot of money out there," observes one association official, "and what we're trying to do is to build a support base and work out the best ways that we might be able to tap into it."

Commercial director Rory Smith is a little more circumspect, but the essential message is the same. "What we're trying to do is to get a feel for what kind of relationship we can establish with members of the Irish community.

"The reaction has been very positive so far, with the feedback ranging from expressions of interest in 10-year tickets for Lansdowne Road - many of these people have, or work for companies that have clients back in Ireland - to broad expressions of support for the work the association is undertaking."

The establishment of a trust fund is one possibility, although Smith insists nothing has been decided at this point.

"When we get home," he concluded, "we'll appraise the situation and decide how best to move things forward, but there definitely appears to be considerable potential for us to advance things over here."