Cunningham's sights set in easterly direction

Not the least impressive aspect of the Republic of Ireland's challenge for a place at next summer's World Cup finals has been the manner in which they have coped with the loss of key players.

For the critical game against Holland last month, three members of the first-choice back-four and two midfielders were missing, and Gary Kelly was sent off with more than half an hour to play. Not only did Manchester City's Richard Dunne and company keep Van Nistelrooy, Kluivert, Hasselbaink, Van Hooijdonk, Overmars, Zenden and the rest at bay, but Jason McAteer even sneaked the goal which meant that, come what may in Saturday's final match, at home to Cyprus, the Irish cannot be eliminated.

If the group was to have one more surprise up its sleeve, and Portugal, who currently lead Ireland with a clearly superior goal difference, somehow failed to win at home to Estonia, Mick McCarthy's team could claim automatic qualif-ication by beating the Cypriots. More likely, by far, is that the sides will finish level on points, sending the green machine into a play-off against what will effectively be the fifth-best team in Asia – Japan and South Korea qualify as hosts, China and either Iran or Saudi Arabia are expected to join them by winning their sections, and the two teams finishing as runners-up will then play off to decide who goes to Dublin on 10 November.

The date has already been ringed in the diary of Kenny Cunningham, the versatile Wimbledon defender, who has been a frustrated spectator for so much of the current campaign. Suffering from an adductor problem at the start of last season, he missed the first three group matches, including the away draws with Holland and Portugal, in which Dunne and Coventry's Gary Breen somehow subdued some of the best strikers in Europe. The amiable Cunningham then returned for away wins over Cyprus and Estonia ("I couldn't go far wrong there, could I?") before straining a stomach muscle that forced his absence from the return games against the Portuguese and the Dutch.

Now he is just about ready to return, having been drafted straight back into Wimbledon's team at Manchester City yesterday following a reserve match in midweek. Were the weakened Irish ranks to be further depleted this weekend (Steve Finnan, the only right-back in the squad, has to come through today's west London derby between Fulham and Chelsea), it is not inconceivable that he might be heading for Dublin a month earlier than expected. But such an assumption had not even entered his mind on Friday when he said: "I'll have a take-away on me lap, watching the lads on TV."

McCarthy's men do not make assumptions, which is one of their many strengths. "We realise that man-for-man we're not up there with the bigger nations but we work hard from one to 11 and have a few emerging talents as well," Cunningham said. He also considers it the height of presumption to suggest that he would be chosen ahead of Dunne or Steve Staunton for the play-off games, or even that Ireland will win them: "Hopefully I'll have had a couple of games by then and I can offer myself for consideration. But time stands still for no one, as they say. Gary Breen's fit again, Andy O'Brien's been doing very well for Newcastle and although Gary Doherty's unfortunately had a bad injury, it'll be difficult to force my way back in. People say it's better to be drawn against the Asians than a European team, but I'm not too sure. The Asian teams are getting stronger, their players are getting stronger and they get fantastic support."

Tehran or Riyadh would certainly be a culture shock after Selhurst Park. As the north Dublin boy emphasises, it would also reflect the tremendous resolution Ireland have shown in the competition. "When the draw for the groups was first made, I was in the gym doing some rehabilitation and I remember looking at Holland and Portugal and thinking it would take a super-human effort to get through. We're under no illusions now about Portugal tripping up in their last game. But it's been a great achievement by our lads."