Mick McCarthy’s belief that Roy Keane will play in both legs of the World Cup qualifying play-off against Iran appeared to be well-founded this morning as the Corkman completed a full training session with the Republic of Ireland team.
All 24 of McCarthy’s squad were put through their paces at CityWest with McCarthy now reporting no injury worries for this weekend’s first leg.
Six players, including Keane, sat out training yesterday but Steve Finnan, Dean Kiely, Steven Reid, Matt Holland and Kevin Kilbane all reported for duty alongside their captain today.
Afterwards, McCarthy insisted Keane is now fit to play in both legs and was adamant it would be business as usual for the 30-year-old, despite the fact he has missed Manchester United’s last five matches with a knee injury.
"It was nice to see him out there on the pitch," said the Ireland manager of his prize asset. "He may not have played many matches recently but that was also the case before the Portugal game and he was outstanding in that.
"He takes care of himself."
Manchester United boss, Alex Ferguson, had earlier doubted whether Keane would be fit in time for Saturday’s first leg but McCarthy has maintained his assertion that he would play in both Dublin and Tehran.
Meanwhile, Iran coach Miroslav Blazevic has had the lingering threat of a touchline ban for the play-offs.
And two Iranian players, Alireza Vahedinikbakht and Sirous Dinmohammadi, will also be available for the two games after FIFA decided not to increase their suspensions.
Blazevic was sent to the stand by referee Carlos Batres Gonzalez for entering the pitch during the stormy 3-1 defeat in Bahrain on October 21st.
The Bosnian was banned from the technical area for the second leg of Iran's Asian play-off against the United Arab Emirates last week.
But FIFA announced today that no further action will be taken against Blazevic. Dinmohammadi and Vahedinikbakht, who were both sent off in Bahrain and subsequently banned for both games versus the UAE, are also eligible for the forthcoming tie.
Dinmohammadi was shown the red card for punching an opponent, while Vahedinikbakht was dismissed for kicking the Bahrain goalkeeper.
