FC St. Pauli

"It's been a busy few weeks since we've been back from the winter break, but I feel good and I've coped with it all very well," said Irvine, still in effervescent mood despite having just completed a high-intensity Tuesday afternoon session lasting around 100 minutes. A hectic schedule with six competitive fixtures – four for the Boys in Brown and two for Australia – seems to have had no effect on the midfielder. "I'm very lucky with the medical staff at St. Pauli and also with the national team," he continued. "Everybody has helped me to be as prepared as I can be and recover as well as possible."

Irvine admits to being surprised occasionally by how well he copes with all the exertions now he's getting a bit older. "When I was younger, it wasn't such a problem, but when you get into your late twenties, you think maybe things will start to slow down and get more difficult, but that's not the case, as the game against Paderborn showed", said the Australian, who covered an impressive 12.63 kilometres against Paderborn, more than anyone else in the team despite having 180 minutes of international football and all the travelling in his legs. "I think I'm in as good a shape as I've been in my career. I feel like I'm probably in the best condition I've been in in a long time and capable of playing lots of games. In my first game for club, I realised the intensity here is much higher. Even with just one week between games, it can be difficult to recover, but now I can play a game three days later."

Jackson Irvine (seen here challenging Maximilian Thalhammer) covered an incredible 12.63 kilometres against Paderborn despite going the distance twice for Australia a few days earlier.

Irvine, for whom sleep is the most important part of his post-match recovery routine and as such a prerequisite for being as fit as he can be, hopes to back on the pitch at Regensburg this Saturday. After five games without a win, the Boys in Brown are determined to return to winning ways at long last. The reverse fixture ended in a 2-0 victory for the Schultz XI, a very special game for Irvine, who came on as a late substitute. "Yeah, I have a special memory of my first competitive game at the Millerntor. I think it was my first game, but not my first touch of the ball (he laughs). I don't think I got to play the ball at all in the two minutes I was on the field, but it was a great moment for me to be able to celebrate with the team, as we'd just beaten the in-form club at the time," added the midfielder, who has featured in every game since then, including 13 starts.

The aim in the return fixture will be to pick up the first win since early December, something that will be no easy task. "It's a difficult game, of course, even though Regensburg have dropped a few places in the table, they still have serious quality and are capable of beating every other team," said Irvine. "We'll have to be at our very best to get a result there. We've had a good start to the training week and everybody's excited that we've got a chance to get the win we haven't been able to get for the last few weeks." It looked for all the world that the Boys in Brown would finally emerge victorious against Paderborn, but the visitors grabbed a late equaliser to rescue a point.

"Sometimes teams will come up with moments of good quality that you can't always defend against," says Irvine, all too aware of the high level of quality in the league. The Boys in Brown have not kept a clean sheet since the 4-0 defeat of Hansa Rostock in late October. And in their last five league games, they have shipped ten goals, something that has to change, as Irvine was quick to point out: "It needs to come from every single player, from the forwards going back to the goalkeeper, that collective desire and a real focus on keeping the ball out the net. We have to show this focus and concentration, even when we come under pressure, so as not to concede a goal."

Jackson Irvine (seen here in the reverse fixture in Hanoi) experienced a very special game against Vietnam.

Three points may be target at club level, then, but with Australia, qualifying for the World Cup finals is the objective. Here, Irvine returned from the latest tour of international duty with mixed feelings. "The second game against Oman was not quite what we wanted, conceding late on to only draw 2-2 felt more like a defeat," said the midfielder, who experienced a genuine highlight in the 4-0 win over Vietnam a few days earlier. "The Vietnam game was amazing, of course, it was my first proper competitive game in my home city of Melbourne. It was just incredible for me to play in front of my family and friends and obviously it was a top result for us."

Next up are the all-important games against second-placed Japan and group leaders Saudi Arabia in March, with Australia, back in third, needing to leapfrog at least one of their two rivals to achieve automatic qualification. "They're two very tough games for us," said the 44-times-capped international. "We're going to have to put in a special performance to win them, but we have players performing at the highest level and we have to believe we have the quality to qualify automatically."

In the meantime, however, Irvine's focus is on the game against Jahn Regensburg rather than the World Cup. And once again the seemingly tireless Australian is determined to give his all in search of victory, as the Boys in Brown bid to take all three points back to Hamburg.

Photos: Witters