BRIAN KERR is concerned about one important issue going into this morning's meeting with Argentina in the first of the World Youths Championship semi- finals in Kuching's Sarawak Stadium.
"After watching them pour out so much energy in five games in the space of just 12 days, I simply don't know how much more is left for them to give," he says starkly.
The point is scarcely over-dramatised. Neither is it designed to create smoke screens as he confronts the biggest challenge yet in a career devoted largely to the fascination of tilting against the odds.
Arriving in Kuching's international airport yesterday, the casual visitor was struck by the sheer intensity of the rain and, when it stopped, the hot stifling air which makes Malaysia treacherous territory for a visiting sportsman.
Not for the first time, FIFA have stretched the limits of logic by awarding a major championship to a region which, in terms of climate and conditions, confers unfair advantages on those accustomed to performing in heat and oppressive humidity.
More than that, they have introduced a rule which ensures that the safety net has been pulled from the teams seeking to minimise their difficulties by time-wasting tactics, regarded in the past as dark but legitimate.
Now a goalkeeper is given no more than five seconds to clear the ball, injured players are immediately taken off the pitch for treatment and the expedient of buying time by "losing" the ball in the crowd is countered by a ready supply of replacements on either side of the pitch.
In achieving the primary purpose of greater continuity in the game, it has also made for a type of helter-skelter brand of football, not necessarily for the better, which is imposing more physical demands on young players.
And the cumulative effect is such that Kerr fears the consequences of a punitive programme, undertaken with a lot of courage but in some danger of ending in disillusionment here if they are unable to go with the pace of Argentina's game.
A game against either of the other two semi-finalists, Uruguay or Ghana, who meet later in the day, would have been preferable. Yet, the prospect of going in against the reigning title-holders is one which invites almost as much as it intimidates.
Argentina have occasionally looked brittle in this competition, but it certainly didn't show when, against all form, they dispatched Brazil in the quarter-finals. In earlier games the athletic Brazilians had handed out fearful beatings to South Korea and Belgium, bestowing still greater merit on Argentina's 2-0 win last Sunday.
The Argentinian coach Jose Pekerman seems to think his side are on course for the title. "The biggest hurdle, Brazil, is out of the way. I can't help feeling that we are moving towards winning the tournament. Brazil were much stronger than the remaining teams. If we could beat them, there is no reason why we can't win now," he said.
Yet the champions are not without weaknesses, notably in defence where Australia's achievement in scoring four times against them has given enormous hope to the other teams left in the championship.
Additionally, they have to replace their two established central defenders, Leonardo Cufre and Waiter Samuel, who were suspended after being booked for a second time in the Brazilian match.
Yet they still remain a strong skilful team with the ability to seek out and destroy the threats in the opposition. Their own attacking strategy, it seems, is geared to the task of getting Bernardo Romeo and Pablo Aimar free with the final pass.
Both these players have seen service in Argentina's First Division with Estudiantes and River Plate respectively and Ireland's central defenders Colin Hawkins (Coventry) and David Worrall (Blackburn) may have to improve further on their convincing earlier performances.
With the exception of Hawkins and, to a lesser extent, Worrall, this is not a particularly big Irish team. As a result Kerr has used all his talent for improvisation and tactical innovation. So much so that a FIFA official observed yesterday that with the exception of Brazil's Toninho Barroso, nobody had impressed him more in tactical awareness than the Irish manager.
Some of his variations in set-piece situations, again carefully rehearsed when he took his team to the match stadium yesterday afternoon, have been impressive in their subtlety and they may again offer our best chance of getting in among opposition who, physically, hold almost all the advantages.
As ever, Kerr will wait until close to kick-off time to name his team but he admitted yesterday that not more than one place is at issue. While he refrained from saying so, it may revolve on whether he wants to use Alan Kirby, whose father Dave played with Waterford in the 1960s, in a man- marking role in midfield.
Otherwise the job briefs will be specific with Thomas Morgan, the captain, filling the anchor role in midfield, Damien Duff and Niall Inman playing immediately ahead of him, Derek O'Connor staying vigilant in goal with Trevor Molloy and Neale Fenn again spearheading the search for goals.
Morgan, who will be looking for new employers when this tournament ends following Blackburn's decision to release him, is close to the top of the list as Ireland's outstanding player in this championship.
Yet, the onus weighing on Duff is no less demanding as the Irish seek to uncover the defensive weaknesses which Kerr reckons are the Achilles heel of the South American team.
The ball recklessly given away in midfield could be expensive for the Irish. To their credit, however, their rate of error in this area of the game has been remarkably small since coming to Malaysia and on the exceptions which proved the general rule, they generally succeeded in getting people back in numbers to smother the threat.
On those twin objectives will rest many of Ireland's hopes of survival on this cruel testing ground in Malaysia. And given the progress achieved thus far, it is not stretching incredulity to suggest that there is still more joy left in Brian Kerr's sack of dreams.
