Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has warned his team that they must forget their success in qualifying for the World Cup and to concentrate on the actual tournament next summer. McCarthy, whose side has been drawn in Group E with Germany, Saudi Arabia and Cameroon, says his team must avoid complacency after qualifying at the expense of Holland.
"The qualification was extremely difficult, and we had a wonderful qualifying campaign, but that's finished. We have to start again now. We saw in their play-off how good Germany actually are. So England gave them a good hiding but that doesn't happen to them often and at some stage we all get a hiding off somebody. For them to then go and beat Ukraine the way they did in the play-off was impressive," said McCarthy.
The Irish manager refused to be drawn on his team's chances of qualifying for the second phase. "Don't be putting that on me six months before we kick a ball. Cameroon are unpredictable. World Cups have inspired them in the past. They are colourful and they will have that trickery. I've watched the Saudis too against Iran and I have video tapes of other games at home. Now we have six months to find out more about them all."
Filed by Tom Grealis
