Emmet Malone reports from Chiba: While news that two more Saudi strikers had been ruled out of tomorrow's game at Yokohama will have further dented morale amongst Nasser Al-Johar's squad over the weekend, Mick McCarthy's men were in quietly confident mood as they continued their preparations at Chiba city.

A handful of the Irish players were still nursing minor injuries yesterday but Matt Holland was the only one not to take any serious part in the morning's training session and even he appeared to do enough by way of jogging and exercises to suggest he'll be fine by tomorrow.

Less likely to be involved, at the start at least, is Jason McAteer who livened up a quiet weekend by revealing he was packed and ready to go home after learning he was being dropped by McCarthy for the Germany game.

The fact that the pair's subsequent exchanges became front page news in a Sunday tabloid will hardly have endeared the player to McCarthy, who is believed to have already told him he would be on the bench again for the Saudi match.

Ian Harte may join him there after again struggling to impose himself against the Germans on Wednesday but the Leeds United left back gave the best indication yet of the mood in the squad yesterday when he casually referred to the Saudi match as the team's last "before going to Korea".

Their travel arrangements, of course, depend on them first beating the Saudis, which everybody in the camp clearly believes they can do.

McCarthy insists that having lost two games, Ireland's opponents will be determined to salvage some pride. But their chances of preventing the Irish obtaining the two-goal victory margin required to make certain of a last 16 place was dealt a blow over the weekend when both Obaid Al Dosari and Sami Al Jaber were forced out of Al-Nasser's squad.

Al Dosari, who was stretchered off in the game against Cameroon after impressing McCarthy, has apparently torn knee ligaments and will require surgery, while Al Jaber, the team's skipper, has had his appendix out since the defeat by Cameroon. The team are already without their most prolific striker, Talal Al Meshal, who was injured during the build up to these finals.

The Irish players seemed fairly unconcerned yesterday about how the Saudis will be fixed for the game, with Mark Kinsella remarking that while they were impressed with the team's performance in Thursday's 1-0 defeat by Cameroon, the Republic would be very positive in their approach.

"We learned a lot from that second game, about the way they pass and move," he said. "They are good but they do leave gaps up front. From our point of view the hope would be score early to settle our nerves because there's bound to be some tension. But whatever happens we'll be positive. We'll attack the Saudis, and maybe we'll leave gaps ourselves, but we do need to get at them.

"It's good to know what we have to do," he added. "We're absolutely determined to make the second round and if an Irish team has never scored twice in a World Cup finals game well then hopefully that will change."

When asked about the celebrations on the pitch after the Germany game Kinsella's Charlton team-mate Dean Kiely criticised some of the England players for the way they have behaved towards their supporters over the past week. "Lining up in front of the fans afterwards just seemed the right thing to do," he said. "A lot was made of the England situation after the Sweden game. They trudged off and didn't give the fans anything. We want to make them feel part of it, and rightly so. That's what we were trying to show with that sort of gesture: we are approachable.

"I think the apologies made afterwards (by the England players) were quite hollow. It's quite easy to applaud the fans when everyone is cheering your name. You do it because it's like auto pilot. The test is when things go the other way. What do you then?" Kiely went on the say that many of the players in the England team live in "an ivory tower" and are "detached from everything".

"Why are we different?," he asked rhetorically.

"Because the 22 lads are quality people as well as quality footballers."