McAteer hopes to be fit to face Cameroon
JUST a little reminder that Ireland start their World Cup campaign on Saturday against Cameroon, the most talented side in Africa.
And on the forgotten footballing front, it was good news on a day of drama in the Irish camp as only Jason McAteer and Kevin Kilbane didn’t take part in full training.
Both players jogged leisurely around the training pitch in Izumo, as their team-mates played out a tough 10-a-side game, which included some sublime skill from Damien Duff and Robbie Keane.
McAteer, who only four days ago thought his World Cup was over, hopes to be fit for the game after a scan revealed he has nothing more than a bruised knee, and not a strained ligament as originally feared. Kilbane will be fit by the weekend.
After ex-Cameroon defender Bilong tossed McAteer to the ground in Ireland’s final warm-up game, the Sunderland winger felt instantly his World Cup hopes were dashed. Stretchered off, he said to photographers around him, his knee was gone.
But, a few days later, McAteer is his old cheeky self, all grins and jibes. In a distraught squad, at least there is something for a few people to smile about.
“Yeah, I should be definitely training by Friday,” McAteer predicted. “And I am still not ruled out of the Cameroon game. I did think my World Cup was over, and for it to come in a game like that, it came as a shock.
“You don’t expect challenges like that in those sort of games and I am always a bit of a pessimist when it comes to injuries anyway, so on Saturday night, I felt that was it for me. But I went into the hospital on Sunday, and found out it wasn’t as bad as I thought.”
McAteer was among the Irish players impressed by Cameroon in their draw against England, a game which the African champions dominated for long periods.
But even if Ireland fail to put the turmoil of the past seven days behind them and pull off a surprise result, McAteer believes the team are still in with a chance of qualifying.
“The first game is not the be all and end all. Look at Italy in 94, we beat them in the first game but they went on to reach the final. So, even if you do badly in the first game, it is still possible to do well.
“Obviously, we don’t know as much about Cameroon as we do Germany and Saudi. Germany were in England’s group and we would be fairly familiar with a lot of players from the Champions League and England, while we have our homework done on Saudi since the play-offs because we thought we were going to play them, then.”
