Ireland upbeat ahead of Venezuela test

The mood amongst the players and backroom staff of the Ireland cerebral palsy football team remains very upbeat despite their opening reverse in the CPIRSA Intercontinental Cup.

At first glance, losing 6-0 might seem extremely negative, but despite being very well prepared, Ireland are all part-timers, whereas Russia - the world and Paralympic champions - are professional footballers.

While the Boys In Green were looking forward to pitting themselves against the elite, their fate in Group B and the rest of the tournament always hinged on the next two games.

Venezuela represent a good opportunity to register a first win and if the result is the right one, that is likely to set up a winner-takes-all battle with England.

The English beat Venezuela 4-0 yesterday and it will be interesting to see how they fare against Russia tomorrow.

Ireland manager, Paul Cassin is satisfied with where his team is at, particularly given that his oldest player is 25 and four of the team that lined out against Russia were U20. They will have learned plenty from that experience.

"3-0 was a bit harsh at half time" says Cassin. "Luke (Evans) had two chances and Gary (Messett) had one and if they'd have converted it would have been a different story. But it is what it is. These guys train twice a day. They're professional footballers. We get together as a squad once a week."

Which explains why Evans isn't downhearted.

"I've played against them a good few times now to know what it's about" Evans explains. "It's not enjoyable getting beat 6-0 but it's a good gauge for finding where you are individually and as a team. To be honest, in terms of CP football, it wasn't a terrible result. We were 3-0 down with 15 minutes to go against guys doing it as a full-time job.

"We stuck to the game-plan, which was the biggest thing for me. Nobody tried to be a hero. We didn't win the game, we didn't get a point but if you ask me, it was a good start to the tournament and we can only go forward now."

Cassin watched Venezuela's loss to England, during which the South Americans adopted an extremely defensive approach. On that evidence, he believes that his young but talented squad of players have what it takes to progress from the group.

"I didn't learn an awful lot about them because all seven players didn't cross the half-way line, which played into England's hands. I was surprised England didn't score more considering their strength.

"I'd be very, very confident of getting the three points, whatever about the score. I'm very confident for the next two games to be honest."