Denis Irwin, the Republic of Ireland and Manchester United full back, is quick to acknowledge the role of the substitute in a team game. "Everybody wants to play and when you're on the bench, you tend to sit there and wonder if the guy in your position, is going to get injured," he says.
"But as a team player you've got to look beyond your personal problem and hope that the collective effort is good enough to get you a win."
For the vast majority of his career, Irwin has never had to wrestle with the confused priorities of the substitute. But in recent times, there have been occasions when he's been forced to bite his lip and suffer the inevitable disappointment.
Phillip Neville's glowing claims for a first-team place with Manchester United has occasionally meant heartache for him at Old Trafford.
And ever since he was injured in the first half of the game against Romania in Bucharest in April, he has struggled to reclaim his place in the national team from Blackburn's Jeff Kenna. But if the popular Corkman feels aggrieved, it doesn't show.
"As long as you believe that the decision is an honest one, you can't have any complaints. Alex Ferguson has no favourites at Manchester United and he invariably picks the team which he feels can do the best job for him on any particular day. That can sometimes be disappointing, but you must accept the logic behind it.
"Likewise with Ireland, I was first choice at right back for a long time but then, when I got injured, Jeff Kenna came in and proved he was capable of doing a great job for Mick. Now Jeff is suspended and if I am picked, I aim to play well enough to make it hard for the manager to drop me.
"While it's nice to travel over and be part of the group, there is no substitute for actually playing. And I don't mind admitting that I've missed the fulfilment that comes with that."
Irwin, who had a mixed time during the last World Cup finals in the US, where he was suspended for one game and then failed to reclaim his spot from Gary Kelly, is desperate for the chance of savouring the excitement and the job satisfaction of playing in the finals again in France next summer.
But he admits that to make the cut for the finals, the team must improve substantially on their performance in Iceland.
"I don't think we played well there and when we went 2-1 down, things looked bad until Roy Keane's goals turned the game around.
"We didn't have much luck in our group before coming to Iceland, but I reckon we got it all back last Saturday. That and the goalkeeper's mistakes gave us an important win, but we can't expect lightning to strike twice tomorrow.
"Technically Lithuania are in a different league to Iceland and to beat them, we must up our game a lot. But the knowledge that a win here will almost certainly be good enough to get us to the play-offs will ensure that we spare nothing."
