Holland hoping to stay centred

After a frustrating spell on the sidelines, Matt Holland hopes his role in steadying the Irish ship on Saturday will persuade Brian Kerr he is worth a place back in the centre of things tomorrow.

"I knew that I hadn't played a lot of football going into the Cyprus game and that it would be a big decision for Brian to have started me there. But I'm glad to have gotten the 45 minutes of football under my belt and I feel the better for it. Now, like everybody else I'm desperate to play in this game.

"I'd played a couple of reserve games at Charlton," he added, "as well as a Carling Cup game and 20 minutes against Chelsea, but the half game over the weekend has definitely helped my sharpness.

"I'd had three knocks that kept me out - to my shoulder, back and ribs - but they all feel good now. The way I feel you always feel you could last the 90 minutes, although," he added with a hint of a smile, "whether you could or not always remains to be seen."

The midfielder isn't used to life in the dugout, having gone years without missing a single game during his time at Bournemouth and Ipswich. He was also a near automatic choice in the Irish set-up until the summer of last year. Having missed the opening games of the qualifying campaign though injury, however, he had to look on as Roy Keane and Kevin Kilbane cemented a new partnership in the middle of the field. There have been friendly games since but next to no competitive action.

With Keane out and Kilbane potentially on the verge of a return to the wing, the 31-year-old, who neatly sidesteps questions about the indications he had given that he would retire at the end of this campaign, could well return to face the Swiss, a team he knows all about: he featured in both defeats of the last qualification series.

"Yeah, we definitely owe them one at this stage," he sighs. "They're a good side, there's no disputing that, but then we're a good side too, one that can rise to the occasion and, hopefully, put a bit of a show on."

They can, he insists, with some passion, pull off the result. "We're all desperate to play in the World Cup, Brian's desperate to manage at the World Cup, the fans are all desperate for us to qualify. We're all in this together and we intend to go out there on Wednesday and produce the performance we need to make sure we end up going to the World Cup."