McCarthy keeps faith with World Cup heroes

Mick McCarthy kept faith with his World Cup heroes as the Republic of Ireland kicked off their Euro 2004 qualifying campaign against Russia in the impressive 30,000-capacity Lokomotiv Stadium.

Sunderland's Jason McAteer was given the nod ahead of Gary Kelly of Leeds on the right side of midfield, which showed that Ireland boss McCarthy had adopted for an attacking approach.

It's a warm evening in Moscow, perhaps more suited to the away team than the hosts who are going through a rebuilding phase and, even without influential former captain Roy Keane, McCarthy must have been confident of getting off to a good start in the race to make it to the finals in Portugal.