Mary Hannigan talks to Robbie Keane and Shay Given about the new faces in the squad and the new manager's approach

The Irish being the Irish, the main topic of conversation around the squad's Algarve training camp the past few days was the weather. Robbie Keane doffed his cap yesterday to his manager, congratulating him on accurately forecasting that they'd have been washed out of it if they'd opted for Malahide as their base ahead of tonight's game against Chile, adding, with a grin, "It's been good being on the phone back home and hearing that it's lashing in Dublin."

But it was to Dublin the squad returned last night after, what Keane insisted, was an invaluable few days in Portugal, where he put behind him the disappointment of Spurs missing out on Champions League qualification on the final day of the season.

"Players don't dwell on situations, we have other things to look forward to," he said. "Coming into the squad has been great and meeting the lads and the few new faces. It's been really good, and the training has been brilliant. The lads have been together and we've all really enjoyed it."

One of those new faces, of course, is that of 16-year-old Terry Dixon, Keane's Spurs' team-mate. "I'd heard a bit about Terry, they speak highly of him at Tottenham," he said. "It's great for him to come in and he hasn't looked out of place at all. He's a nice lad and hopefully he'll do well in the future when he gets his opportunity."

Another of Keane's club-mates, Stephen Kelly, will get his opportunity as early as tonight, having been named as right-back in the side. "I'm delighted for Stephen. I wasn't aware Stan had told him the other day he'd be playing, but even today when the side was named Stephen's face lit up . . . He's a great fella to have around the place and especially at Tottenham, I hope he doesn't leave. He's a big part of our squad. I can't see a reason why he won't be fine. He's an out-and-out defender. When he came into the Tottenham side he did ever so well and it'll be no different for him against Chile."

Shay Given, meanwhile, was struggling to come to terms with the fact Dixon was born the year Ireland reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Italia '90. "It's hard to believe," he laughed, "but if someone told me he was 19 or 20 then I wouldn't have argued, he does not look 16. He's a very strong 16-year-old, to say the least. People say he's very young but Michael Owen was 17 when he played in the World Cup finals and Wayne Rooney is the most recent guy in a similar situation. But I wouldn't like to compare Terry to them, it would be unfair to put so much pressure on him. All I can say is that he has not looked out of place in this squad.

"But all the young lads have done really well," said Given. "I have to admit I struggled with the names early on because I didn't know them, but as the week's gone on we've got to know the young lads and how good players they are. They've all come in and done well."

While Given was familiar with Steve Staunton the player, he's still, he said, learning about Steve Staunton the manager.

"It's hard to know what Stan is yet as a manager, but you can see he's trying to get his own ideas across. He's willing to let players express themselves, enjoy themselves. That's refreshing, especially for the young players, he's not trying to drill in something that's foreign to them. He's telling them to play their football. He's got his own ideas and what way he wants us to play. He does say to the players to do their own thing and express themselves on the pitch, and sometimes that's the best and easiest thing. Simplicity is sometimes genius and he's trying to get that across.

"We've only played one game against Sweden and we're trying to keep that momentum going because we've only got a couple of games before September. I don't know if it's long ball or in your face. He's got some things he wants to try out, if it's in your face, it's in your face, we're just trying to impose ourselves on the opposition.

"It doesn't really matter what happens against Chile - although we do want to win - the key thing is to prepare for September. And I think this training camp has been great for that because Stephen has not been with us for too long. This camp is all about the Germany match and trying to make us right for that game."