McCarthy doesn't fear Germans

Mick McCarthy has insisted he is not quaking in his boots after Germany’s 8-0 mauling of Saudi Arabia.

The Republic of Ireland face the Germans on Wednesday in their second Group E clash, following Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Cameroon.

Yet manager McCarthy is relaxed about the prospect and believes Germany are not as good as Cameroon.

‘‘I’d be stupid if I sat here and said I was daunted by it or scared by it, you’d think I was mad,’’ said McCarthy.

‘‘I’m not. Germany are not better than Holland or Portugal, who we played in the qualifiers, and I personally don’t think they are better than Cameroon.

‘‘I am not trying to be disrespectful to the German team because I think their results and performances since England beat them 5-1 have been better than England’s.

‘‘They came through the qualifiers against Ukraine quite comfortably and that was a tough tie for them.

‘‘It’s a bit like Brazil. They didn’t come through the qualifying campaign too well but I fancy them. I think they are potential winners despite that they had a difficult time qualifying.

‘‘It is the same with Germany. They are in the tournament now, they have huge experience and you are playing against Germany - there is something about that, like when teams go to Old Trafford, or Anfield, or Highbury and play against those big clubs.

"There is an aura about them in the competition.

‘‘I have yet to watch the tape but I didn’t expect anybody to get beat 8-0 or anybody to win 8-0 in a World Cup finals. But you can rest assured that nobody is going to dominate us for 90 minutes.’’

In a classic game of two halves, Ireland rescued a point against Cameroon after Matt Holland’s second half goal cancelled out Patrick Mboma’s first-half strike.

McCarthy revealed how he used a bit of psychology on his players at half-time in bid to lift their game.

He said: ‘‘At half-time I thought we could play better and certain people’s performances were below their standards. It was passing us by a little bit and I thought we had a bit more in us.

‘‘One of the backroom staff had put a sign up on the wall saying: ’No regrets’. So I told them not to come off regretting when perhaps they could have done a bit more.

‘‘Sometimes you come in and think: ’That wasn’t my best, the game passed me by’. Those were a few pointers I made.

‘‘I think that is a fair sign and I have often said to people don’t ever come off the park - especially in big games like Iran, Holland and the World Cup finals - and don’t be going home from the World Cup finals thinking, ’That passed me by and I didn’t do as well as I could’.

‘‘I said, ’Do as well as you can individually. If you look after your own patch and make sure you play as well as you possibly can, collectively we’ll take care of that’.

‘‘They deserve all the credit, the players. I felt Cameroon had the better of the first half without over-running us and their couple of chances came not from them carving us up but more from us not performing as well as we could both individually and collectively.

‘‘Maybe it was the events of the previous week and the fact it was the first game in the World Cup.

‘‘But they knuckled down in the second half and improved on their individual performances all over the park to such an extent that at times I thought we over-ran Cameroon.’’

McCarthy singled out Leeds defender Gary Kelly for praise, after he picked him ahead of Fulham right-back Steve Finnan.

‘‘It was close between Kelly and Finnan,’’ said McCarthy. ‘‘Finnan has been excellent but Kelly over the two weeks has been brilliant - not only in his performances in games when he has come on and played.

‘‘Gary has been a leader these past two weeks, he’s had an outstanding contribution, on the pitch and off the pitch and I felt he deserved to play.

‘‘Gary was unlucky to lose his spot when he got sent off in the Holland game and yesterday just highlighted what he has been all about these past two weeks.

‘‘At half-time I asked him to play further forward and although he prefers to play-right back he said:

'Yep, no problem,’ and went and did it.

‘‘Then Ian Harte went off and he played left-back and he was excellent there.

‘‘He is a great lad, a great character. I like his attitude, you ask him to do something and he willingly does it.’’