McCarthy Looking Forward to Pitting His Wits Against Old Foe Tuesday, 22nd Sep 2015 17:34 Town boss Mick McCarthy is looking forward to pitting his wits against Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal on Wednesday evening having previously got the better of the Dutchman in a game which he says was one of the most satisfying of his spell as manager of the Republic of Ireland. Back in 2001 McCarthy was in charge of Ireland and van Gaal Holland as the two nations vied for a place at the following summer’s World Cup in Japan and South Korea. The teams met at Lansdowne Road, Dublin in the September in what was effectively a game to settle who would finish second in the group behind Portugal and progress to the the play-offs. A 67th minute Jason McAteer goal saw McCarthy’s side - which included ex-Blues skipper Matt Holland and former manager Roy Keane - to a famous 1-0 victory, despite full-back Gary Kelly having been sent off in the 58th minute for a second bookable offence. “I don’t think this will have any bearing on it, to be honest, and I’m not even sure he'll remember it,” McCarthy said. “I do, because we went to the World Cup! “That was a great day for me and for Ireland. We ended up in the play-offs [against Iran], won them and went to the 2002 World Cup, which was brilliant. “I look forward to pitting my wits against him, he’s vastly experienced, he’s a great success and he’s at one of the best clubs in the world at the minute, they have been for a long, long time. I’m relishing the prospect.” He says it was one of his most satisfying victories with Ireland: “Oh yes, with 10 men against the glorious Dutch team? You go through that team and the subs that they kept putting on. “We had 10 men for something like 40 minutes. I think Gary Kelly [failed to hear my] ’Play with your heads and not with your hearts’ talk at half-time. Didn’t work too well, did it really? I’m sure it was 40 minutes off the pitch. Seemed a long time anyway. “It was a really satisfying victory and it set us up for what was one of the highlights of my career, which was managing in the World Cup.” In his World Cup Diary 2002 McCarthy said that prior to the game he was annoyed by comments van Gaal had made suggesting his job would be in jeopardy if Ireland failed to qualify. The Town boss says he can’t recall the precise details, although he feels he now has a better idea of how comments along those lines might have been elicited from the Dutch manager. “I can tell you I was absolutely f-----g delighted to win that! That I can tell you because that’s gone and that’s finished," he added “You’re asking me about something after how many years? There’s lots of things I can’t remember about that. “But it was all starting to annoy me because they were all booking their hotels and they were getting ready to be in the play-offs, it was us that was going out. “Unfortunately for Louis one of you guys in the media would have asked him ‘Do you think that Mick McCarthy’s job will be under pressure if you win..’ and he’d have gone ‘It probably will because they’ll be out the World Cup’. He’d have answered it honestly. “And, of course, he answers a question honestly and I get the hump about it. That’s just the way it is. So at the time, I was. I was probably an angry younger man then as well. I’m a bit more pragmatic and a bit more understanding of the way it all works now. “But, yes, I was because the suggestion was that we had no chance of beating them, we were just going to get turned over by this great Dutch side and, of course, it didn’t happen.” He says their paths haven’t crossed since that night in Dublin and McCarthy wonders, given his long and distinguished career, whether van Gaal will even recall him: “He might not even remember me!” If that's the case the Blues boss will be out to give him a reminder via another famous victory at Old Trafford on Wednesday: “Let’s hope so.”
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