His colleagues had already been at work for almost an hour when he left the dressing room wing on Kollaustraße and entered the FC St. Pauli training ground: Jackson Irvine seems to have recovered well from his COVID-19 illness and did a few laps in a good mood and gave the impression of being operational by Saturday evening. Good this way!
The midfielder tested positive on Saturday a week ago and had to cancel his trip to the Australian national team with a heavy heart. They then lost 2-0 to Japan in the decisive World Cup qualifier and now have to try to make it to Qatar via the playoffs against fifth-placed South America (Peru, Colombia or Chile).
St. Pauli’s Jackson Irvine missed Australia’s crucial World Cup qualifier
Instead of running up in Rostock with countless flight and 180 minutes of play (Australia still has to go to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday evening) in his backpack, the 29-year-old has to shake Corona out of his clothes this time. And even if FC St. Pauli is very sensitive to this topic, coach Timo Schultz has “a lot of respect” for the disease: Analogous to the usual travel hardships, Irvine seems to have coped well with the infection.
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Which should bring relief to Schultz and Co. Irvine is one of the reliable pillars in the team, has only been absent from the starting line-up three times since matchday seven and is needed for the physically intensive prestige duel at Hansa. Especially since his competitors were not completely convincing.
The first alternative to Jackson Irvine at St. Pauli would probably be Christopher Buchtmann
Christopher Buchtmann would probably be the first alternative, he was in the starting XI against KSC (3:1) and in Dresden (1:1), but he didn’t set any lasting exclamation marks. And Finn Ole Becker failed to recommend himself again for the starting lineup in another way. He was one of the five professionals who lost 2-1 at HSC Hannover with the U23s ten days ago. The fact that the regional league team won 4-0 against Lüneburg last Sunday with only keeper Dennis Smarsch on loan from the second division gave the result and performance of the previous week even more significance.