Postcard from Marbella: New faces, same old ambitions

Carbs before Marbs. Good carbs that is, with plenty of rest and water.

There's not been much lounging on the beach for the Republic of Ireland as they get on with important prep work at the picturesque Dama de Noche Football Centre in Marbella.

The Girls in Green have been here for over a week now, easing into proceedings with a couple of light sessions before last Friday's behind-closed-doors training match against Germany. That game was played over three 30-minute 'halves' and gave Vera Pauw an opportunity to use as much of her squad as possible.

Tomorrow's friendly against China is unlikely to be as rotational. But it will be interesting.

In the wake of Ireland's qualification for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer, Pauw received several messages from previously uncapped players, born outside of Ireland, making it clear they were eligible to play for the country and very willing to declare.

That gave Pauw something to chew over. You can never have too many good footballers, but the manager is highly conscious of disrupting the spirit of a group that's been through extreme highs and lows together.

"We only go for the players who have shown that they want to play for Ireland," Pauw said last November, ahead of the 4-0 win over Morocco, which took place in Marbella. "We have a core group and only if somebody is really adding something to the squad, and have done everything themselves for the passport, we can go for them."

So far, three new faces have come on the scene.

Manchester United defender Aoife Mannion (above) represented England at underage level and was on the bench twice for the seniors during Phil Neville's time in charge, a whisker away from being a full England international.

The daughter of a