Manchester United's Roy Keane is out of the Republic of Ireland's World Cup play-off second leg against Iran on Thursday. The Irish skipper found that his knee had stiffened severely overnight after playing the full 90 minutes of yesterday's 2-0 win at Lansdowne Road. He has returned home to Manchester for treatment on the injury which had nearly made him miss yesterday's game.
Irish manager Mick McCarthy said that it would be unfair to ask the Manchester United captain to play two games in five days. "Obviously we'll miss him - you know I'll say that - because he's one of the best players in the world. I thought it was fantastic what he did on Saturday, but now we've got to go in without him. But there's not much we can do about that. It is all about the squad now and you only have to look at our bench to see the quality we've got," said McCarthy.
All the rest of the Republic squad have come through the game relatively unscathed and will make the trip to Iran tomorrow morning. Niall Quinn's back problem seems to be holding up well, and Steve Staunton's thigh and hamstring problems which forced his substitution yesterday are not causing concern. McCarthy has decided not to call anybody else up in place of Keane.
Roy Keane says that the Republic should not be complacent for the second leg in Tehran. "We would have taken 2-0 before the start but it means we are only halfway there. We know we can play much better than we did and now we've got to prove it. It will certainly be a different type of game in Tehran. The lads have got to keep it tight for the first half and keep the crowd quiet. That's important.
"But we need to make their defence work as well and we can't afford to hit it too long as we did sometimes, especially in the first half, on Saturday. That just puts too much pressure on big Niall Quinn. A quick away goal would be ideal but the tactics are up to the manager and we'll have to wait and see," said Keane.
Mick McCarthy is equally cagey about assessing Ireland's second leg prospects. "You know me. I don't make predictions. Ask me on Friday if 2-0 in the first leg was enough. I was happy with it because we had to put in so much work as before half-time Iran were just camped in their own half. You can't expect to play 90 minutes at the level we had to produce in the first 45. The penalty just before half-time relaxed us a bit and we could have had a few more goals after Robbie Keane scored the second but in the end Shay Given has had to make two excellent saves and we've got away with a clean sheet.
"These games have so much riding on them. Players need ice-cold blood in their veins to perform in them because they know how much is at stake. It was tense and tight. I felt exhausted myself afterwards just as if I had played in it. And it will be the same on Thursday," said McCarthy.
Filed by Tom Grealis and Greg McKevitt
