Ireland for the quarter-finals

Given the quality of the opposition, I thought we did OK last week at Lansdowne, in our last warm-up game for the World Cup. We needed to play a really good African team before meeting the Cameroon, and you could tell from the word go that Nigeria were up for it. Never mind football, they’ve got four or five lads who could win an Olympic sprint medal. Most of the talk cross-channel has been of Argentina and Sweden, but I honestly think Nigeria have the beating of England. They’ve a couple of world class players in their line-up, but the one who really stands-out – for more than just his goal celebrations! – is Julius Agahowa.

I tell you what, if I was Sir Alex Ferguson, I’d be finding out who that young gentleman’s agent is. While I don’t think Ireland were in any way outclassed, I was concerned about the lack of height in our attack. I was a bit surprised and disappointed that Gary Doherty didn’t make it into the squad. Bearing in mind Niall Quinn’s suspect fitness, he’d have been an ideal target man for the likes of Kilbane, Finnan and Duff to whip crosses into. I think we saw from the way he squandered a very good chance that heading the ball isn’t Robbie Keane’s strongest suit.

Colin Healy is another person who’s unlucky not to be on the plane. If you’re not going to play the ball out wide and cross it in, you need somebody who’s capable of dissecting defences with a pass, and he has that ability.

On the plus side, I’m delighted that Stephen Reid’s been included. As soon as he came on against Nigeria, he was winning free-kicks out on the wing and generally making a nuisance of himself. His goal was superbly taken and showed that he’s able to deal with big, physically intimidating opposition.

Losing’s never a good thing, but it’ll certainly put paid to any over-confidence and make the lads realise they’ve got to work their socks off in every game.

Not that even a World Cup tournament should be all work and no play. I was reading the other day that the Brazilian coach, has imposed a “no nooky” ban on his players. If I was him I’d be saying get as much nooky as you can! Obviously you can’t have lads going at it morning, noon and night, but anything which aids their mental well-being is a good thing. If you’ve a normal, healthy sex drive, six weeks of no how’s your father could really get to you. Jack was pretty understanding. There were a couple of occasions when wives and girlfriends were smuggled into rooms that he lost his rag, but otherwise he was cool with the other halves being around on day’s off.

I always thought it odd that, given the money they were making from the tournament, the FAI insisted on players footing the bill for their partners. You had to find and pay for flights and accommodation yourself, which was a bit tight.

I’m not naming names, but there were a couple of lads who were quite glad that they didn’t have their wives in their ear all the time! Personally, I loved being able to spend time with the family. Otherwise there wouldn’t have been any opportunity to switch off and forget about football for a couple of hours.

While I’m looking forward to watching and commenting on games for the BBC, I’ll miss the camaraderie of being with all the lads. Jack was big into bonding, so we’d have a card game one night and a snooker tournament the next. I was never bored or at a loss for something to do.

In fact, the only thing that got my goat was having my room-mate, Kevin Moran, treating me like a slave. Him being the eldest, he was always on at me to fetch the paper and make cups of tea. His one redeeming quality is that he didn’t snore!

I’m not going to say this in earshot of the players, but like Nigeria, I think Cameroon are a good outside bet for the semi-finals. They’re still a bit undisciplined at the back, so I’d be telling the likes of Duff and Keane to make lots of darting runs in and around the penalty box. At some point in the game, you’re going to win a free-kick in a good position.

Germany losing 1-0 to Wales confirmed that they’re not the force they used to be, but no way are they going to be a soft touch. It’s imperative that we get stuck in straight away and don’t let them get their passing going.

As for the Saudis, we need to show them the physical side of our game early on. Whilst acknowledging, of course, that referees won’t be as tolerant as they are in the Premiership. A couple of players, including Roy Keane, need to bear that in mind when going into challenges.

I could have been sent off in the Romanian game in 1990 when myself and Hagi were down on the ground and elbowed each other in the face. He elbowed me first, so I gave him a good crack back. There was a moment of blind panic when I thought, “Jeez, my World Cup is over”, followed by an unbelievable sense of relief when I realised the Brazilian ref was going to turn a blind eye.

The important thing is to go on the pitch believing that we can beat anybody. Which, if everyone raises their game at the same time, we can do. France losing 2-1 to Belgium last weekend showed that even worldbeaters have their off days. I still think they’re the best all round side, but you can never rule out Argentina or Brazil who have it in them to play far better than they did in qualifying. It’d be nice to see Ronaldo in top form again, but there’s something still not right about him. Portugal will be expecting a big contribution from Luis Figo, but he was totally anonymous in the Champions’ League final and, generally this season, hasn’t looked his best. I think it’ll be Zidane’s tournament, with a couple of youngsters – Damien Duff being among them, hopefully – emerging as surprise packages.

I don’t want to upset hotpress’ English employees, but I’d fear for them getting out the group. Stephen Gerrard not being there is a huge loss, and they’ll be even worse off if Kieron Dyer and David Beckham lose their battle for fitness. I’m hoping that Sven will give Joe Cole a decent run-out because, of all their emerging players, he’s the one with the Gazza-like touch.

Ireland, on the other hand, should make it out of the group and even as far as the quarter-finals. We’ve got a lovely mixture of naivete and experience, which makes us a very dangerous proposition. Here’s hoping!