The Republic of Ireland's historic meeting with South Africa in the US Cup in the summer is now almost certain to take place in the Giants Stadium, New Jersey on June 11th.
Details of the match arrangements for the competition are still being finalised but the likelihood is that the game will be part of a double bill in the arena where Ireland scored a memorable victory over Italy in the 1994 World Cup finals.
Tournament organisers may view the second game, involving Mexico and the host country, as the more important part of the programme but from an Irish perspective, the meeting with South Africa will have special significance.
At a time when Africa's influence on football is expanding dramatically, South Africa is seen as a valuable ally by many European federations. It is true that the performances of their national side during France '98 didn't quite match their high rating and yet, undeniably, their scope for progress is enormous.
Ireland's first game in the competition will be against Mexico on June 4th and two days later they meet the US at the Foxboro' Stadium, just outside Boston.
The venue for the Mexican fixture is still uncertain but it could again be the Giants Stadium where the last meeting between the countries took place in June 1996. That match ended in a 2-2 draw and a storm of controversy after Mick McCarthy was made to follow Liam Daish and Niall Quinn to the dressing-room for an early shower.
That was, to some extent, a reaction to the World Cup game in Orlando two years earlier when in temperatures of 100 degrees plus, the Mexicans dented Irish hopes of replicating their 1990 heroics in Italy by winning 2-1.
Coincidentally, Niall Quinn is among the senior Irish players who have expressed an interest in joining the end-of-season tour which will mark the last phase of the preparations for the opening World Cup qualifying game against Holland in September.
Before the Irish reach the US, they may well have played Scotland. A spokesman for the FAI said yesterday that discussions with the Scottish FA for a game at Lansdowne Road on May 31st were on-going and that an announcement may be made within the next few days.
If a satisfactory financial package is agreed, the fixture is likely to go ahead and end a 13-year gap in competition between the countries. Meanwhile, Mick McCarthy is due in Dublin this morning for the announcement of his first squad selection of the new year for the game against the Czech Republic at Lansdowne Road on February 23rd.
The manager was keeping his counsel yesterday but with Denis Irwin and Alan McLoughlin recently retired from international football and Lee Carsley unavailable because of a foot injury, there will be at least three changes from the side that travelled to Turkey for the European championship play-off in November.
Among those in contention to fill the vacancies is Stephen McPhail, the uncapped Leeds player who was a member of the squad which competed in the finals of the World under-20 championship in Nigeria last April and who has since emerged as one of the most accomplished of the young players that David O'Leary has introduced.
Another whose claims will merit consideration is Matt Holland of Ipswich Town. Further back, there will be unusual interest in the choice of the central defenders. Tranmere's involvement in the Worthington Cup final against Leicester City at Wembley on February 27th rules out Phil Babb whose return to form was acclaimed by McCarthy recently but there could be recognition for Sunderland's Paul Butler.
No less than Bradford's Andy O'Brien, another player who has performed well in the Premiership this season, Butler is seen as a possibility for the next World Cup squad.
