Keane indicates he would like to play in World Cup

Former Irish soccer captain Roy Keane has indicated in a television interview that he would like to play in the World Cup. He said it was possible a way might still be found to enable him to do so.

Speaking in the half-hour interview, broadcast this evening, Keane said he understood the depth of feeling the row with Mick McCarthy and his subsequent sacking from the squad had caused in Ireland.

Referring to Ireland’s match against African champions Cameroon on Saturday, Keane said time was running out but when asked if the FAI, the players and Mick McCarthy approached Keane to seek a solution if he would be willing to meet them half-way, Keane replied "I want to play for Ireland."’

He continued: "No one wants to play for Ireland more than me" and that the situation was "hurting me."

Asked if he could go back to the squad, Keane, 31, replied: "Maybe there is a way, who knows? I really don't know. I really don't know because I can't see it happening. We'd have to see. We really would."

"People make me out to be a monster and I'm a loner. It's nonsense, absolute nonsense."

Football Association of Ireland (FAI) treasurer John Delaney said he could see no way back for the player.

"I don't see any change. The FAI must respect Mick McCarthy and his players.

An apology from Roy would be absolutely vital," Delaney added.

"We need closure. We play Cameroon in six days (Ireland's opening World Cup match)."

Meanwhile the Taoiseach Mr Ahern, said the nation would "sleep happier in their beds" if Keane was recalled to the squad.

But Ahern quickly added that he did not want to cross the line between politics and sport despite, in his words, the "enormous amount of pressure" for him to intervene.

Earlier, Roy Keane admitted Republic of Ireland coach Mick McCarthy was right to send him home from the World Cup squad.

Roy Keane talking to reporters following his expulsion from the Irish team at the World Cup

But Keane told an English tabloid he did not regret his row with McCarthy, saying he had been angered by the poor training facilities on the Pacific island of Saipan.

"I don't regret what I said, but at the same time I agree that Mick had to send me home," he told the newspaper. "A player cannot speak to a manager like that and continue to work under him. Of that charge, I am guilty".

A half-hour interview with the Corkman will be aired on RTÉ 1 tonight at 8.30 p.m. An excerpt from the interview was broadcast this evening.

McCarthy sent Keane home on Thursday after the two clashed in front of the rest of the squad at a team meeting.

I waited eight years to play in another World Cup and I'm sacrificing that dream because of something I believed in Roy Keane

The Irish manager, Mick McCarthy, was quoted as saying: "My former captain is gone forever now as far as I'm concerned. . . . The door has closed on one of our few world-class players. That is his fault, no-one else's".

Additional reporting

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