GROUP E / IRELAND

*--* World Cup record: Played nine (2-3-4); goals for: three; goals against: seven Best finish: Quarterfinalist in 1990 1998 showing: Did not qualify Coach: Mick McCarthy. What will be his World Cup legacy? The coach who outmanuevered powerful Netherlands for an unlikely trip to the 2002 tournament? Or the man who snuffed Ireland’s second-round hopes by booting captain Roy Keane off the squad a week before the opener? Players to watch: Robbie Keane, Shay Given, Jason McAteer, Niall Quinn, Steve Staunton In brief: Ireland entertained thoughts of matching its quarterfinal run of 1990. But McCarthy’s dismissal of Keane, the team’s best player and inspirational leader, changes everything. In 1998, U.S. coach Steve Sampson cut his captain, John Harkes, weeks before the tournament and his demoralized team never recovered, going 0-3 and out Quick quote: “As long as I am coach of the Ireland team, Roy [Keane] will not play for us.”--McCarthy Forecast: Chances of advancing may have vanished with Keane

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