SOCCER:Ultimately, the bigger battles will be fought on the pitch over the latter part of this year and the entirety of 2009 but in their first encounter with their Bulgarian counterparts, the FAI lost out yesterday as the hosts for the Group Eight fixtures meeting dug their heels in and obliged chief executive John Delaney and co to give potentially costly ground here in Sofia.

Assuming for a moment the new manager can tidy up Ireland's performances against the group's so called "minnows", the team's prospects of qualifying for the next World Cup look set to be sorted out in the spring and early summer of next year.

Bulgaria's determination not to play ball with the FAI's attempt to line up games between the two countries this October (in Dublin) and the following September obliged the Irish to host their rivals on March 28th, just four days before the toughest game of the campaign - away to the world champions.

The timing of the return game is even more tricky with Plamen Markov's side enjoying home advantage against the Republic in early June, a date the Irish negotiators had been anxious to avoid.

Overall, the fixture list contains a mix of the good and bad but if, as many believe, the best the Irish can hope to do is battle the Bulgarians for second place and a spot in the play-offs then yesterday's meeting is far from a triumph.

Both teams should go into their March date in relatively good shape. Though it is late in the season, the match will take place on a Saturday and so the players would be expected to have a week off before the game. The problem is that in what should be a fiercely competitive encounter the managers will potentially have to cope with injuries and or suspensions for the second outing of the double header.

Critically, that might mean facing Cyprus at home with a weakened side four days later for the Bulgarians, while the Irish may be flying to the likes of Rome, Naples or Turin without a couple of key players.

Two months later the group's second and third seeds meet again back in Dublin on a date the association had been hoping to leave free.

Ireland's record in June qualifiers is, on the face of it, far from disastrous with six wins and two draws since the last defeat - at home to Austria back in 1995.

The points surrendered to Israel at Lansdowne Road in 2005, however, ultimately proved the difference between getting to contest a play-off and finishing fourth in the group. A group of players, whose club seasons had concluded three weeks earlier, proved incapable of containing an Israeli fight back.

Their fitness is likely to be similarly contested this time around for while a number of leading Bulgarians play in Britain, around half the squad are based at home where the league campaign is likely to run right up to a matter of days before the game.

Another potentially critical test follows four months later when Italy come to Dublin. If the top seeds really have been sucked back into a three-way contest then the timing of this game looks okay. If not, and Ireland's hopes are dead by then, the FAI will at least be pleased to have something to hang ticket sales on in the latter part of the campaign.

Taking the scenario of the Italians finishing first by some margin, though, and Ireland chasing second place, it would have been preferable to face the group's top side last when they were more likely to have already secured qualification and less likely to exert themselves.

On the brighter side, the FAI delegation will take some comfort from the schedule over the first few months of the campaign. With Italy having clearly flagged their preferences in advance and then used their status yesterday to effectively dictate who they would play and when, the Irish arrived in Sofia knowing an early encounter with the Roberto Donadoni's side was pretty much out of the question.

Instead, having had virtually no option but to play away twice this September they have lined up games against the group's two most lowly ranked sides, the hope being that the team will get some points on the board early on.

It may not be so straightforward. Georgian morale has been lifted considerably by some strong performances since Klaus Toppmoeller was appointed national coach, while sixth seeds Montenegro should prove a significant cut above the likes of San Marino and Andorra.

But the Irish simply have to start winning those sort of games again if they are to have any chance of reaching another major championship.

And a month later, the visit of Cyprus will provide the clearest test yet of how things are progressing under the new manager.

After the campaign just ended, it seems, almost anything is possible in those three games but strong performances yielding seven or nine points will be the target.

If that can be achieved then the Republic will at least be in a decent position to tackle the start of the real work the following spring.