WORLD CUP 2002: FAI officials will again attempt to get permission from FIFA to bring Colin Healy in as a replacement for Roy Keane this morning when they attend the opening session of the federation's congress in Seoul.

The issue has already been discussed by Saturday's scheduled meeting of the World Cup organising committee in Japan where the Irish request for a dispensation from the regulation that players can only be replaced at this stage when they have been withdrawn through injury was rejected.

But FAI general secretary Brendan Menton said after Saturday's game in Izumo he would continue to press the association's case which, he said, was the result of exceptional circumstances. He insisted he remained hopeful that Healy, who is on holiday in Spain, would be allowed to join up with the rest of the squad.

Menton has unreservedly backed Mick McCarthy's decision to expel Keane from his squad. "I'm absolutely happy with the decision," he said, "it was the right one to take - what it showed was the squad is more important than the individual players that make it up."

While there has been some criticism of McCarthy for discussing the issue at a meeting of the squad, Menton observed: "Mick had numerous one-to-ones with Roy before it came to that; it's clear he would have liked the player in the squad, but at the end of the day, this is a team game, he made the right decision and I know the association backs it up fully."

The war of words surrounding Keane's departure rumbled on yesterday with the Manchester United captain accusing McCarthy of being motivated by a long-standing dislike of him, criticising the senior players who attended Thursday's press conference at which his expulsion was confirmed, and claiming two squad members came to his room that evening and expressed their support for his position. The 30-year-old also denied referring to McCarthy's nationality, but admitted verbally abusing him and said he would not apologise.

In another Sunday paper, Matt Holland joined the three players who had already publicly sided with McCarthy by criticising Keane's actions.

Talk yesterday of fences being mended - which includeded suggestions that Michael Kennedy, Keane's solicitor and agent, had been in touch with senior players in Japan, and that Keane will be more concillatory to McCarthy in the Daily Mail today - seem fanciful in the light of the war of words.

Jason McAteer, meanwhile, stands a very good chance of recovering from the knee injury picked up in Saturday's 2-1 win over J-League side Sanfrecce Hiroshima in time to play against Cameroon this weekend. An early diagnosis that suggested the problem was no more than bruising was yesterday confirmed by a scan and McCarthy predicted last night the midfielder would be back training in the next few days.

McCarthy travelled to Kobe yesterday to watch Cameroon play England in their final warm-up game. The African champions performed impressively, twice leading and looking largely the stronger team in a 2-2 draw.

Samuel Eto'o scored his side's first goal of the afternoon in the sixth minute and after Darius Vassell had equalised for Engliand, Geremi Njitap beat David James from a free-kick 20 yards out. For almost the entirety of the half an hour that remained, it appeared Winfried Schafer's side had done enough to win the game but, with seconds remaining, Robbie Fowler salvaged a draw for England.

"Cameroon looked better than Germany today," said McCarthy afterwards. "They were positive going forward, they threw men into attack and they looked very good on the ball. They're a big physical side who have no problems with the conditions and they'll be a real threat. I'd nearly make them favourites for the group only for the fact that Germany are better organised and more disciplined."

England manager Sven Goran Eriksson was also impressed by his team's opponents, observing after the game "there is a lot of quality in the Cameroon team".

" They are physically strong, very good on the ball and technically excellent. When you are defending against them you have to do it in a very organised way, to start working very early and ensure they do not force you into chasing the ball."

Asked whether the conditions would be a major factor for teams like England or Ireland when playing against the Africans, he remarked: "It will depend to an extent on when the games are played because the afternoons are warm, but the evenings will not be such a problem."

Schafer, meanwhile, said he was happy with the way his side had performed, but insisted that after the difficulties he and his players had had on their journey to Japan this week he was relieved everybody had come through the game unscathed.

"We were a little bit worried about injuries going into the game because the players have been able to do so little this week but I think everybody saw that they (his team) really played like lions today," he smiled.

"Of course we always have problems preparation wise, we also had for the Africa Cup (African Cup of Nations).

"They are more difficult to overcome at a World Cup because the opponents are of a different calibre, but my players stick together well, they play with one heart, and that's why we feel we can overcome our difficulties."