Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has named his team for tomorrow's first leg of the World Cup 2002 play-off against Iran at Lansdowne Road and to the delight of the Irish supporters, Roy Keane will start. Although Keane has missed the last five games for his club Manchester United, the Irish captain was determined to regain fitness in time for the two vital play-off matches with Iran.
However, Keane did admit today that he is not completely happy with his damaged knee but that he has the blessing of United boss Alex Ferguson to play. "I'm more than willing to give it a go and see how it is. Mick wants me to play and Sir Alex Ferguson has been fine about it. I was trying to get fit for the Liverpool match but it just came a little bit too early for me and the medical people said the knee wasn't right. I wouldn't deliberately miss any United games because they are all important but the knee has improved this week," he insisted.
"Some days it is better than others and in the last week or so it has settled down a bit although I'm still not too happy with it. I don't want to go into details about what's wrong but I've been working in the gym and managed a couple of training sessions. Now I need a game or two to see how it goes. A couple of games won't make the injury any worse. If there is a reaction after Saturday then we'll have to see, maybe go back to the specialist and see where we go from there, but now I need to play and we all know how important this game is," added the Irish captain.
McCarthy has opted to maintain Keane's partnership with Ipswich midfielder Matt Holland in the centre of the field while Fulham's Steve Finnan also keeps his place at right-back despite Gary Kelly being available again after missing last month's 4-0 win over Cyprus through suspension. The only two changes McCarthy has made to his team from the one that lined out against Cyprus is the inclusion of Leeds striker Robbie Keane in place of David Connolly and Jason McAteer's inclusion in place of the injured Mark Kennedy.
Although Ireland are missing a few big names through injury, McCarthy is pleased with his selection, describing it as near as possible to his "strongest side". He added: "Ideally I would like to have had Damien Duff, Stephen Carr and Kennedy here for an even bigger choice but they are all injured."
Although some might be surprised by Holland's inclusion over Kinsella, McCarthy explained his decision to opt for the Ipswich player. "Holland has earned the right to play with his last two performances and Finnan is a regular with his club while Gary has been on the sidelines at Leeds," he said.
"The selection decisions were not difficult. The tough part was telling terrific professionals like Kinsella and Kelly that they are not going to start because they are important members of a very good squad and I don't doubt at all the support they will give to the others," added the Irish boss.
Republic of Ireland team: Shay Given; Steve Finnan, Gary Breen, Steve Staunton, Ian Harte; Jason McAteer, Roy Keane, Matt Holland, Kevin Kilbane; Niall Quinn, Robbie Keane
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
