Reflective McAteer mulls over international football future

By Liam Mackey

JASON McATEER said yesterday he will consider his international position after the World Cup.

And, later in a lively, solo press conference, when asked where he thought Roy Keane was now, the Ireland winger quipped, “probably bollixed in a bar in Florida”.

McAteer, considered fit enough to play if required tomorrow, though he expects to start on the bench, is still suffering the nagging effects of a knee injury which he says will require rest after the World Cup.

It is then that he will also decide whether or not to retire from international football. If McAteer does play against Spain it will mark his 50th cap, and hitting that landmark, he says, is one of the reasons he has been pondering his future with Ireland.

“It puts a little seed into my head about what happens at the end of the tournament,” he said, “and I’ll have to speak to a few people when I get back. I’m 31 in June and a lot of players now are trying to prolong their careers at club level, by taking a step down from their international career.

“I know it seems a bit young, 31, but I’ve been around it now for nine years and I’ve seen managers and players come and go, and it’s something to address with my family and the staff.”

Against a backdrop of incessant noise from a pre-match Seoul street party, McAteer insisted this wasn’t a short-term reaction to his disappointment at being dropped for the game against Germany.

“Not at all. It’s something I’ve been thinking about and talking to friends about. There’s a few players going to retire at the end of this campaign and I think there’ll only be me left from Jack’s reign.

“I’ve got a great move to Sunderland, I’m playing for a fantastic manager who I class as a friend as well, and it would be sad to get an injury that stopped me playing for him.”