Sport

Little rest for depleted side

Group Four The Faroes squad arrives: Frustrated Faroe Islands players have had a nightmare preparation for tomorrow night's …

Tue Oct 12 2004 - 01:00

Group Four The Faroes squad arrives: Frustrated Faroe Islands players have had a nightmare preparation for tomorrow night's World Cup qualifying game against Ireland at Lansdowne Road.

They were in a buoyant mood after their 2-2 draw with Cyprus in Nicosia on Saturday night. But it all started to go wrong, to the dismay of coach Henrik Larsen, as his team departed Nicosia for a scheduled flight from Larnaca to Dublin at 3 a.m. on Sunday.

"The flight was supposed to take off at 6 a.m., but it just didn't happen. We found a local hotel and tried to put our heads down for a few hours," said Larsen.

"There was a total of a 20-hour delay at the airport. Our flight did not take off until one o'clock on Sunday morning and it was 5.30 a.m. before we arrived at our team headquarters at Dublin's Burlington Hotel.

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"Having just eight hours' sleep in 48 hours is not good for even the best professional players - and remember my squad are all amateurs.

"They were all exhausted, and it was a fact that while all the other guests at the hotel were having lunch, we were only settling into breakfast. Effectively we haven't slept for two days."

To their credit, the Faroes had a light training session at Belfield Park last night. Then it was back to the Burlington hotel for a quick dinner followed immediately by more catch-up sleep.

Larsen's Faroes ran France close last month when losing 2-0 in their capital, Torshavn.

Commenting on the late own goal by defender Pol Thorsteinson against Cyprus which denied them victory on Saturday, Larsen said: "We put the emphasis too much on defence in the final stages. After playing so well in the first half the players thought they could win the game. But it pleased me that we did have a lot of chances," added Larsen.

To add to their woes the Faroes will be without their only two full-time professional players.

Midfielder Claus Bech Jorgensen, a recent recruit by Coventry City, is ruled out by a rib injury picked up in the Cyprus game, while striker Todi Johnsson (FC Copenhagen) is a long-term absentee with a knee ligament problem.