This gave us the initiative and momentum to attack them and Duff excelled in the space they gave him

This gave us the initiative and momentum to attack them and Duff excelled in the space they gave him. It does not surprise us how good he is – after all we know – but I think it is surprising some opponents.He and Keane are skilful, quick and keen to run at defenders. Admittedly, it took us until the last minute to equalise, but I felt that we had plenty of chances, plenty of possession and were worthy of the point. And how good it was for Quinn to get on the pitch? He caused their defenders problems immediately and apart from winning headers, he also wins free-kicks in good positions around the penalty area. His was a perfect 15 minutes as an impact player.The mood in the dressing room was even better than after the Cameroon game and there is a confident spirit and feeling among the squad that was improved by the Cameroon-Saudi Arabia result. To guarantee reaching the last 16 we have to beat the Saudis by two goals.Now complacency is not the Irish way and our preparation is as diligent as ever but if someone had offered this scenario prior to the tournament, we would have ripped their arms off.Unfortunately, I suffered an elbow in the ribs during the match and have been unable to train until today. I did enjoy my first day off on Thursday when some of the families went to Disneyland.

Jacob and Sam, my children loved it, probably more than watching me score although they would never admit it. They’d better not anyway!Not all my memories of the World Cup are going to be football, though. After the Cameroon game and my equaliser – am I still allowed to be pleased with that? – one of the lads taught my three-year-old, Sam, to sing “there’s only one Matty Holland”. For the rest of that evening he proudly serenaded the squad, manager, back-up staff and families with chorus after chorus. Even I was pleased when it was time for him to go to bed.Italy losing, Argentina losing to England, France struggling to qualify, Italy losing to Croatia, there is no shortage of stories or shocks in this World Cup. Can Ireland continue to create a few of their own? I think so and I think England can as well. Argentina have looked one of the best teams in the tournament and yet England won.

First we must beat Saudi Arabia and England must play Nigeria. Can you imagine both countries in the next round? Now that really is a World Cup dream.. Niall Quinn’s heroics in Ibaraki on Wednesday night, when he came off the substitutes’ bench to terrorise Germany into submission, will not earn him a place in the Republic of Ireland’s starting XI against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Duff himself has enjoyed it ever since the half-time break in Ireland’s opening game against Cameroon, which seemed to mark a turning point in their fortunes: trailing one-nil and wilting, they found new stature and spirit as the shadows lengthened.”I struggled very badly in the first half along with everybody else,” he said “The sun was out and no one really got going We struggled through that. Ever since then it’s been OK and with the 8.30pm kick-off it was a lot easier, not as hot or as humid, so all the lads did a lot better.”It took some strong words from McCarthy as well as more amenable conditions, however, before the Irish produced a second-half performance in keeping with their abilities, setting them up for the German game: “I don’t think anybody really got going in the first half.