An odd press conference. It isn't often we get to speak to the manager when he is half way through a job of work but that's where it stands and the gulf between his professional expertise and our vocational curiosity is never more apparent. The mood can be whatever Mick McCarthy wants it to be. We don't know enough to tell him that two goals seems insufficient insulation for a winter's night in Tehran or to bid him congratulations because the tie seems wrapped up now.

We ask tender questions. How does he feel? How do his players feel? Do tell them that we said hello. Mick has word from the dressingroom, the sanctum.

"Well I would say they are happy with their job of work. That's the underlying comment from them. We would have took 2-0, half time, with another game to play. That was what they were saying."

We nod. This is the professional view, the feeling on the inside. We've come to appreciate that they know what they're doing. Mick continues anticipating the questions.

"We could have scored, could have had one stuck in our net, but everyone would have taken 2-0 beforehand. The feeling is one of satisfaction, having done half a job."

A World Cup play-off at Lansdowne. Everything on the line. Intense? The question is almost rhetorical. "Intense, of course. We've had some very high pressure games. Word is used too often maybe, but the intensity of it was there, things get a bit tight and tense. The players' commitment is never in question though. They take the game to the opposition, they push on, sometimes to our detriment in the second half but the desire to play is always there.

"The start of the second half, I just changed it around slightly, I got Kevin and Jason to push on a bit more for Robbie to drop in behind Niall. It gave us another point in attack with Kevin, rather than just pushing it up to Niall all the time who was suffering from a number of bangs in the back."

The dire news from the infirmary has yet to spill. The questions have a touch of innocence. Was Jason tired? "Yeah, Jason is tired. He's had a few bangs out there but he's done well. I just tried to get fresh legs on. ""

And Shay Given's saves. The question hangs as if it were well known that Mick had considered playing without a 'keeper at all.

"Yeah, Shay Given. When somebody is running through it happens almost in slow motion. You're looking at it, you're hoping the 'keeper will save it, hoping he'll have a bad touch or he'll fall head-over-tit. You just don't want it to go in the net. Don't let him score. It was a great save and the one after that was probably better again."

Because there would have been pressure at 2-1? "Pressure at 2-1? Yes of course, that's what they were trying to achieve, we're grateful, we've come away with it. We deserve it. They've had two chances they could have scored with, we've had four or five others we could have scored with. So it evens itself out."

There is a nagging thought, though. Two goals up after 51 minutes, a third would have killed the game so isn't there any sense of disappointment, any sense that the team lost the impetus late on? Mick is firm.

"I think taking the game to the opposition the way we did, we just camped in their half all the first half - it's damned hard work. If you can maintain the level we did for 90 minutes - you know it's very, very difficult. I thought we managed to keep it going. During the game you'll never dominate for all that time. They've had chances. We've had chances. Coming away with a 2-0 victory, knowing they'll have shots at goal, they'll have corners, maybe a one-on-one - we've got 2-0. It's a job well done. You know how important it is not to concede a goal. Away goals cost us the last time."

He looks good, Mick McCarthy, relaxed and dapper in a blue suit. He's even making jokes and teasing, which is a change in these tense situations. Still, just to be sure, somebody asks if he'll go to Tehran and go gung-ho. Briefly we consider what a good headline that would be. Mick to go gung-ho.

"We'll play attacking football when we get the opportunity. We're not going there to try and kill the tie off with an away goal, also we're not going there to sit back and defend.

"They'll have to play much as they did in the second half. I've watched them out there, they go on the attack from the start. I think that will suit us to be quite honest. The game becomes more open. The onus was on us to break them down and they are quite clever and cute and tried to catch us on the break."

Whatever the strangeness of the pending conditions in Tehran, it couldn't but be noticed on Saturday that conditions in Dublin 4 were a little bit rough. The grass was long and waving in the breeze.

"The pitch wasn't as good as it has been in the past. This is a rugby ground though. We're begging, stealing and borrowing a pitch, we should perhaps have our own stadium by now, playing on the grass however we want it. I'm not going to complain though. They've a rugby match this weekend and they prepare it for them. They've had it great for us in the past."

He talks about what Sunday will bring. An audit of the team's ailments, final preparations, fingers crossed that there will be no reactions to anything. "Everything is fine right now," he says. "I just hope it doesn't change when we get up tomorrow morning."