Hockeyroos captain Madonna Blyth admits it is hard having the side’s hopes of reaching the women’s World Cup clouded by the travel crisis caused by a volcano eruption in Iceland.

The Australian team is in Chile awaiting teams from Ireland, Scotland and Malaysia to join it for a five-nation qualifying tournament, where the winner will secure a berth at the World Cup, to be held in Argentina later this year.

The Irish and Scottish teams cannot leave Europe because of the huge shroud of dust in the air across the continent caused by last week’s eruption of the Eyjafjoell volcano.

Malaysia was originally set to travel to Chile via Europe, but is understood to be making changes to its travel plans.

The Hockeyroos beat Chile – the other nation in the qualifying tournament – 4-0 in a warm-up game on Tuesday (AEST), and are likely to play another scratch match against the host nation this week while officials determine what shape the tournament takes.

The tournament is scheduled to start on Saturday, and played on a round-robin basis before a May 2 final.

Australia’s first tournament game is scheduled for Sunday, against Chile.

Blyth said the uncertainty was a worry for all five teams, but all the Hockeyroos could do was hope for the best and prepare like they were playing.

“The hardest thing is not knowing, you’re not really sure what’s going to happen,” she said.

“But we just have to prepare for whatever happens and I think our group’s quite good at that.

“Hopefully we play the tournament that we’re supposed to play and those teams arrive, but if it changes slightly we’re ready no matter what for the first game, ready to play.”

Australia is desperate for Ireland, Scotland and Malaysia to arrive in Santiago, as Hockey Australia has indicated it cannot afford to pay for more expensive flights and accommodation costs if the tournament is relocated to another country.

The Hockeyroos and Chile were locked 0-0 at half-time, but after the break Nicole Arrold and Kobie McGurk converted from penalty corners and Claire Messent and Amy Korner scored field goals to seal a comfortable win.

“We did quite well, we haven’t played Chile before and we haven’t seen a lot of them, so we weren’t sure what to expect,” Blyth said.

“But considering it was our first game over here I think it was quite good and to get used to the conditions will be an advantage going into the tournament.”

McGurk’s goal capped a sound return to the international ranks after 10 months out through a serious knee injury.

Australia was forced to qualify through this tournament because it lost to New Zealand in Oceania qualifying last year, but are a warm favourite to win in Santiago.