I feel I have to defend Keane somewhat again. Have any of you read his interview with the Irish Times or seen his interview on RTE. McCarthy accused him of feigning injury after the first play-off game against Iran, in front of the whole team. That was when the dam burst and the rest is history. Keane has maintained if his talk with McCarthy had taken place privately none of this would have happened.

The Irish team flew coach to Japan while officials from the FAI sat in first class. When they got to their training camp there was no equipment. No balls, no uniforms, no boots and none of the specially made fluids that they needed to drink to help them acclimatize. The training pitch itself was in a disgraceful condition. Hard as a rock and patchy grass. McCarthy hadn't even checked into the training pitch before they left Ireland. When the equipment eventually arrived two days later. In the meantime some of the players had been out partying because there was nothing to do. McCarthy hadn't called for a curfew. Keane said he wasn't pleased with that either but he was willing to give those players a break.

Three players injured themselves on the first day of training because of the pich surface. Keane said he felt it was his duty as captain of the team to speak out and he talked to McCarthy privately about it. He said McCarthy's attitude seemed to be "oh well we got here lets have a bit of fun". Keane said that this seemed to be the overall attitude of the staff and officials. He said that wasn't good enough for him. He felt that the Irish team deserved to be there and that they could compete. He said he was there to win. He was interviewed over the phone by a reporter from the Irish Times and spoke candidly about the shoddy conditions the players had to endure. McCarthy read the interview took acception called a players meeting and made his accusations to Keane.

Now do you think that that is the way the England team eg would prepare for the world cup? Do you think they'd fly coach? No they fly on a private jet. Do you think that Erickson would have his players train on a pitch that hadn't been closely scrutinized months in advance?

Since Keane's outburst things have certainly changed at the FAI so much so that he came out of retirement to play for Brian Kerr.