McCarthy keen to emphasise importance of squad unity
MICK McCARTHY paid tribute to his back-up squad after training yesterday when Ireland again went through a vigorous 90 minutes session before a couple of thousand appreciative fans in their beautiful training base in Chiba City.
The immaculate pitch that has been set aside for their exclusive use is in the middle of a high-class municipal leisure centre on the shores of Tokyo Bay. The quality of the playing surface is as good as the official pitches in the World Cup stadiums and good enough to match the quality of most golf course putting greens.
Said McCarthy: "I said to the players a couple of times, and particularly when we met up to travel here and before I announced the team, the strength of the squad will be determined by the players who don’t play.
"It is not down to the ones who play because when you play it’s easy. It’s the ones who don’t play set the mood and the tempo. If they want to become tittle-tattle, backroom lawyers, chatting about everything, then it can make it difficult for everyone.
"People who are rooming with players who aren’t playing; they need the support. What they don’t need is someone causing them grief by whinging and complaining.
"That is a huge plus if you’ve got a squad who are supportive of each other and supportive of me and my decisions."
McCarthy rattled through the names of the back-up squad and said: "They all want to play. I’d like to play them all. I’d love to see them all get a game in the World Cup, but I doubt that’s going to happen. The way I look at it though; they’d all sooner be sat on the bench than sat on the beach somewhere."
The role of the back-up players was illustrated by centre-back Richard Dunne when he said they were all conscious of the importance of their input ahead of the critical match against Germany in Ibaraki tomorrow.
Dunne, at 22 years of age, and still a relative novice in international terms, said he realised how important it was to hide his disappointment at not being in the team and to remain up-beat and positive in his attitude and behaviour.
"We all want to play, that is why we are here," he said, "but we realise we all cannot get in. And we also know that the players who are in the team do not want any of us walking round with long faces and looking glum just because we are sitting on the bench.
"Of course I’d love to play, of course I want to be out there, especially in the World Cup finals, but it is more important that we put our disappointment behind us and make sure the players know we are supporting them all the way.
"Meantime, we’ve just got to keep training, keep working as hard as we can and to be ready to step in if we are called upon."
