It was raining in Bari this morning so weather wise the thousands of Irish fans due to arrive in the Italian port will not have too much of a culture shock to deal with.
There are already hundreds of supporters here, the hardy boys and girls in green for whom no distance is too great, no venue inaccessible.
Last night in the square or Piazzo down by the port the big stage was being set up and sound and lights were being tested ahead of the huge carnival due to get underway this evening.
Meanwhile the London Irish were nearby singing 'Trapattoni, Trapattoni, away, away, away!'
Trap, of course, is a legend round these parts. The local sports paper, Corriere dello Sport quotes Italian manager Marcello Lippi as saying 'Attenti al Trap' or 'Beware of the Trap'.
Clearly with the game being played on 1 April the sub editors couldn't let that date pass without a couple of 'he could play a trick on us' headlines. Or maybe Lippi has a hitherto unfounded sense of humour.
The locals don't think it's funny that wunderkind Antonio Cassano has been omitted again from the Azzuri squad by the manager. The Mayor has asked fans at the San Nicola stadium not to boo Lippi or the team because their hero, the current bad boy of Italian soccer, has been left out.
Cassano, who was born in Bari, could be the Stephen Ireland of the Italian team. Hugely talented as he is he can be a disruptive influence and difficult to manage.
Despite the fact that Antonio Di Natale suffered a cruciate ligament tear in the Italy/Montenegro game Lippi like Trap will bow to no media or public pressure and recall the 26-year-old Sampdoria striker.
However Pazzini who also plays with Sampdoria scored on his debut against Montenegro on Saturday so the Italian production line continues to roll.
It's a measure of how seriously Lippi and Italy are taking the Irish threat that the game was moved south to Bari in the first place. The Italians have a remarkable record here and only move matches that they think will be difficult.
Though the temperature rises during the day to a pleasant 23 degrees it was quite cool last night around kick off time which is ten to nine local and so there really shouldn't be a problem on that score.
Clearly the Trapattoni versus Lippi match up has fascinated fans and media and the stats show that Wednesday will be the 13th head to head between the coaches.
Trap has a much better record having won seven of twelve with three draws and the other two victories going to Lippi. All of these previous meetings though took place in Serie A.
A more worrying statistic is that Ireland and Italy have met nine times in international football and Italy have won eight of those.
The honourable exception of course being the world cup win in New Jersey when Ray Houghton got the second most memorable goal of his life.
Ireland have lost all three previous visits to Italy without scoring, losing 3-0 in a friendly in 1926, 3-0 in a European Championship Qualifier in 1970 and 1-0 in the World Cup quarter final in Rome in 1990.
So are there any grounds for optimism ahead of the pivotal game in the group?
Because of the Trapattoni/Lippi sideshow the focus has been off the players to some extent and Ireland usually perform better when classed as underdogs. The burden of expectation still sits uneasily on the shoulders of an Irish soccer team.
Aiden McGeady remains a serious doubt for Ireland but Shay Given, Richard Dunne and Robbie Keane are all one hundred per cent certain to start we’re told so hang on to your hats for a rough ride.
A lot has been made of Ireland’s inability to beat teams ranked above us and many peop;e hark back to the famous Holland match at Lansdowne Road in 2001. remember though we still needed a play off against Iran to qualify for the World Cup that year.
The pressure is off. Ireland are set up to be organised and cautious and it’s true that we have been fortunate thus far under Trapattoni.
A draw away to the World Champions would keep us nicely placed for a play off spot and if they were offering a point as charmingly as they offer ice cream or cappuccino at the moment I would grab it with a 'grazie' and a grin.
