Kinsella: We will be history makers

Mark Kinsella is confident the Republic of Ireland will re-write the history books on Tuesday by scoring two goals in a World Cup match for the first time.

Ireland must beat Saudi Arabia by two clear goals in order to progress from Group E into the knockout phase, yet they have never scored more than one goal in a match in the World Cup finals.

Charlton midfielder Kinsella said: ‘‘That record will be broken on Tuesday night with a bit of luck. We need two goals or more to be certain of going through - it is as simple as that. That’s the plan and that’s what we’ve been working on over the last couple of days.

‘‘It’s different for us, we’re going in as favourites which is obviously not one we’re used to.

‘‘But we’re not a team to go out and shout our mouths off. We know what we need to do, the two games that they played were completely different to one another so we know what to expect. They played well against Cameroon, they are a good side we won’t take them for granted.

‘‘We know what the game means to us so we will go out as normal, same as the last two games, go out to win the game. It is in our own hands, we’ve got a job to do and we’ll go out and do it.

‘‘It is great to have it in your own hands. We’ve had two tough games, we’ve had to come from a goal behind in both and we’ve had to work for 93 minutes in both so we know what to expect of ourselves.

‘‘If we give the same performance that we have done we should get the result we want.’’

Kinsella is the man who has taken the place in the team of Roy Keane. Yet at the end of last year he wondered if he would be fit enough to make the squad after he underwent extensive knee surgery.

‘‘It was something that was always on my mind, especially when I got injured before Christmas,’’ he said.

‘‘I was out for five months, and it was a matter of time to make sure I got back and not break down again.

‘‘I bided my time and made sure I was 100% fit. Before I could get back into the Irish squad. I had to play a few games at the back end of the season but this is what makes it worthwhile - the World Cup was my main aim this season.

‘‘I feel a lot fitter but you obviously get your fitness through your matches. I think when you play in the World Cup whether you’ve played 10 games or 40 games you find an extra 20% because of the occasion.’’

He added: ‘‘So far the whole experience has been tremendous. Wednesday was all about dreams. You’re a goal down to Germany and you end up equalising. It was unbelievable, the emotions were high and the dressing-room was definitely the place to be on Wednesday night.’’