After another long and lonely night in a stadium Robbie Keane yesterday criticised the way in which FIFA are handling their dope testing programme at these World Cup finals.

The 21-year-old Leeds striker was angry after being selected to provide a sample for the second time in a row on Tuesday evening, a decision that meant the Dubliner once again missed the team's dressing-room celebrations and was forced instead to wait behind in the stadium at Yokohama for more than two hours.

In that period he consumed eight bottles of water while the rest of the squad made their way back to spend their last night in Chiba prior to yesterday's transfer to Seoul.

"I managed one in the end," he said yesterday, "but it didn't help me much when I eventually did get back to the hotel and off to bed."

Under the current regulations two players from each team are selected to provide samples, with a further two being selected as replacements in case the originals needs to travel to hospital for treatment to an injury.

And while Keane insists that he has no difficulty with the random nature of the selection process he feels it is crazy that players who are already badly dehydrated as a result of playing in the heat and humidity are then required to stay on until they are able to urinate.

"They have got to sort something out about the way they do these tests," said the young Dubliner yesterday.

"There must be another way of conducting them, because after the game is wrong.

"They should either do them before the game or the next morning. Maybe they might even give everyone a test. That would be preferable than two players having to leave their team-mates who are celebrating a great result."

His absence from the dressing-room while the rest of the Irish players were celebrating results he had played such a key role in obtaining clearly hurt the young striker, who has now scored two goals in three World Cup finals starts.

"It's not just that my name came out of the hat twice in a row. It's what you're put through when you're selected. It took me almost three hours to produce a sample after the Saudi Arabia game. Myself and Kevin Kilbane didn't get back to the team hotel until 3 a.m. And it was nearly as bad against Germany when it took me two and a half hours that time.

"It was straight after the final whistle when I was called in," he says. "I didn't even have time to go to the dressing-room. To be honest, it's a complete joke. People were asking me what it was like in dressing-room after the match and I haven't got a clue because I wasn't there."

Keane said that if the tests could not be done before games then he would be willing to provide a blood sample instead, but it is far from certain how much support such a proposal would receive from other players or team doctors.

The Irishman's comments follow what was another excellent World Cup night for him and he admitted yesterday that his experience of the tournament as a whole has made the past few weeks the best of his career to date.

"There is no doubt about it," he said. "This is the biggest stage you can play on and I am enjoying every minute of it. The fact that the team is doing well is great. But, when you score goals, it makes it even better."