Irish captain Roy Keane today returned to Manchester where he underwent a scan amid fears he may require surgery on his troublesome knee injury. Keane was forced to pull out of the second-leg of Ireland's World Cup 2002 play-off tie in Iran later this week after aggravating the injury during the 2-0 win in the first-leg at Lansdowne Road on Saturday. Instead of joining the rest of the squad on the flight to Tehran, Keane flew back to England where he has been undergoing tests at Old Trafford to determine the extent of his injury.
If it emerges that Keane does require surgery, he could be out of action for some time and would miss United's two Champions League games before Christmas. However, despite his problems, Keane took time out to give his Irish team-mates some advice ahead of their trip to Iran.
"You have to play better than we did on Saturday night," warned the Corkman. "We've had a good result. 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," he explained.
Although Keane's absence comes as a huge blow to Mick McCarthy, Keane is confident Ireland can progress without him. "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," he said.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly & Shane Murray
