Saudis will be up for Irish game - McCarthy

Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy believes Saudi Arabia will be highly motivated to knock his team out of the World Cup.

Ireland face the Saudis on Tuesday needing to win by two clear goals in order to guarantee their place in the last 16.

It remains to be seen which Saudi Arabia will come out for the match - the team which rolled over for Germany and lost 8-0 or the team so unlucky to lose 1-0 to Cameroon in their second match.

But McCarthy is convinced that elimination will not dent the Saudis’ enthusiasm for the game.

He told BBC1’s Match of the Day World Cup 2002 programme: ‘‘They’re out of the competition and the question now is how they react.

‘‘If it was me and my team, I would want to knock the other team out, I would want the feather in my cap, so I would expect a tough game.’’

The Irish boss insisted there would be no early charge to secure a nerve-settling quick goal in Yokohama and wanted his team to replicate their performances against Cameroon and Germany.

‘‘We have approached the games we’ve played in every way to try and win them.

‘‘Concentration will be the watchword on the night. They play one up with one behind, but we want to score the goals we need. We have to play like we’ve played the other games.’’