After a long journey to New Zealand where the team spent four days training and preparing for the tournament, they travelled to Australia to play to friendly fixtures against China and South Australia.
The squad spent five days in Australia, where they played China twice (lost 4-3 and 5-0) and South Australia (winning 5-1).
Earlier today, Passmore commented on the five nil loss to China in their second clash: ‘We had a number of lapses in defence which I was disappointed with, and this is something we will have to rectify before the start of the tournament.
‘The corner count in that match was 6-4 in our favour, which is a timely reminder of the fine margins between winning and losing matches.’
As they arrived back in New Zealand today, Passmore seemed upbeat and happy to report that no injuries have been incurred by his squad ahead of the first qualifying game against France this weekend.
Olympic Qualifying Tournament, New Zealand:
Friday 1 February
Ireland v France
Saturday 2 February
Ireland v New Zealand
Tuesday 5 February
Ireland v Trinidad & Tobago
Wednesday 6 February
Ireland v USA
Friday 8 February
Ireland v Argentina
