‘‘We’re not expected to win or make the running.’’

Frank Stapleton also thinks McCarthy’s men will not be fazed by the quality of opposition they will face in the next round.

He said: ‘‘Ireland are one of the teams no-one wants to meet because they are playing well.

‘‘The Spanish will be very wary because they (Ireland) are an emerging team whose level is going up all the time in terms of world value - they can’t underestimate them.’’

On today’s performance, Stapleton continued: ‘‘The early goal was a blessing - it settled the team down.

‘‘The fear of losing anything from the game was worrying and Saudi Arabia got back into the game but Mick made some changes.

‘‘Niall Quinn came on and it made a difference, and when Gary Breen got the second goal all the nerves went.

‘‘I felt they were going to do it. There’s enough confidence in the team and they went about the job properly.

‘‘There were always going to be nerves with so much at stake but they deserved to go through because they’ve played some wonderful football so far.’’