Ireland's rallying cry: tears but no fears

McCarthy's troops ride their green tide of emotion with a single thought - no 'if onlys'

When the Republic of Ireland were finally knocked out of the 1990 World Cup, beaten 1-0 by the host country, Italy, in the Olympic Stadium, their centre-half and captain Mick McCarthy rushed to the dressing-room and cried for 20 minutes.

Tears may follow defeat by Spain in the second round this afternoon, but there will be lingering bitterness only if he feels the team have for once not done themselves justice. "No regrets" was the message pinned up in the dressing-room before the opening match against Cameroon and that must again be the theme for the day against the only side other than Brazil to have coasted through their group in the manner expected.

In drawing with Germany and Cameroon, the two most fancied sides in the section, and seeing off the weakest, Saudi Arabia, with a rare flurry of goals, the Irish and their manager have made the point that they can live without Roy Keane, the country's one indisputably world-class player.

Being eliminated before this stage would have been a source of endless regret to all the squad, and probably a point of departure for the manager. Now, as in 1990, coming through the first part of the tournament has put them all in credit, with reputations that can only be enhanced by any further success.

The danger, especially as fatigue kicks in, is the temptation to accept that no more can reasonably be expected or achieved. "If we go home having got to the last 16 it'll be regarded as some kind of success, but if we were just to rest on our laurels now we'd regret it to the end of our days," McCarthy said yesterday. "It's a terrible thing to have come off the field feeling you could have done better." No regrets. "I don't think we'll have any, because we'll always give everything."

Will it be enough? Can, for instance, Gary Breen, centre-half of no fixed abode, stop the mercurial Raul of Real Madrid, the European champions, even when giving more than he has ever given before? There is no lack of confidence on the part of the former Maidstone and Gillingham man: "We've got a massive game and if we can win it, it's all there for us. It's quite an open World Cup with a lot of the big teams going out and we'll be a difficult team to play against. I'm not sure anyone will want to play against us. Get past Spain and anything could happen. They're a very good team, you see Champions' League matches and are aware of how good they are. They're great when you allow them to play but I'm sure we won't. If anyone writes us off now they'd be fools."

McCarthy has broken one of his rules in order to pick out individuals for special mention during the competition and Breen, released by Coventry City essentially as a financial measure, is one of those he has commended. After a testing first half of the opening game, in which Samuel Eto'o and Patrick Mboma had the better of Breen and his partner Steve Staunton, the Irish have tightened up. Eto'o and Mboma are now at home, while Breen has become such a dominant figure in the Irish camp that Staunton has even had to tell him to pipe down in the pre-match huddle, so the captain can have the last word. McCarthy can rest assured that the right messages are being passed on, for Breen has absorbed the crucial point: "If we come off the pitch with regrets, we'll never get that time back, so all the lads are saying 'seize the day'."

The team hotel is rather unwisely located amid the bedlam of city centre Seoul, where police estimate that 200,000 people turned out on Friday night to watch their country join Ireland in the last 16 with victory over Portugal. Ageing, fading Portugal; perhaps holding them twice in qualifying matches despite being over-run at times was not quite the achievement it seemed at the time. Germany, unimpressive against Para-guay yesterday were not potential World Cup winners either, on McCarthy's admission, but he believes that Spain are, with one vital proviso – "if they were to beat us".

If that is how it turns out in Suwon this lunchtime, tears for souvenirs will be permitted – "they'll feel devastated, like I did" – but not regrets.