Georgia manager Hector Cuper has criticised the FAI's insistence that tomorrow's World Cup qualifier be played at a neutral venue instead of in Tbilisi. The game, which will take place at Mainz's Bruchweg Stadium in southern Germany, was initially scheduled to be played in the Georgian capital.

However, amid concerns expressed by the Football Association of Ireland in the wake of the ongoing political unrest in Georgia, the match was switched to Germany.

Having to surrender home advantage has not gone down well with the Georgians, and their Argentinian coach is adamant the game could have gone ahead as planned on home turf.

Speaking before training with his players at the Bruchweg Stadium this morning, Cuper said: "It was really possible to hold this game in Tbilisi. It would not have been a problem."

Asked about the FAI's role in lobbying for the game to be moved, Cuper replied: "I really don't know what they were thinking about and what they were trying to achieve.

"But I still think it was absolutely possible to play in Tbilisi."

Fifa ordered the Georgian Football Federation to come up with an alternative venue should the situation in the country persist, and eventually ruled that the tie must be moved.

GFF spokesman Alexander Tsnobiladze said: "In Tbilisi, it would have been an opportunity for Georgian people to unite."

After being denied the use of Karlsruhe's stadium, Georgia opted for Mainz - venues in Austria and Ukraine were also considered - partly because of the sizeable ex-patriot community in Germany, which includes several of their players, among them Schalke midfield duo Levan Kenia and Levan Kobiashvili and Karlsruhe striker Alexander Iashvili.

Cuper said: "The Football Federation evaluated two or three options, but we know there are a lot of Georgians in Germany, so that was important."

Ireland are expected to have around 5,000 fans at tomorrow night's game, with the Georgians having allocated around half that number of tickets to their own travelling contingent.

The stadium has a capacity of around 20,000, but only 10,000 seats, and only those parts of the ground will be used.

Ireland will train at the stadium later today. Giovanni Trapattoni no fresh injury concerns after Stephen hunt replaced Damien Duff and Kevin Kilbane was given the all clear to start at left back wearing a protective face mask.