When the prize is so fantastic, when you're this close to World Cup qualification, it's hard not to be slightly worried about the two legs against Iran, no matter how much confidence you might have in the team.

It's not the greatest analogy, but look at England against Greece in their final group game - they were awful. Because they were so close to the World Cup some of their players started trying to do things they're simply not capable of doing, they started trying to force a result - that's the only danger for us against Iran.

But the team, of course, has received a massive boost with Roy Keane's inclusion for tonight's game and he, above anyone else on the pitch, will make sure the players stick to doing what they're good at, precisely the things that got us to this great position in the first place. They've done brilliantly so far, so it's vital that they carry on playing as they have done.

Yes, there's always an element of risk when you play someone who isn't fully fit, but Keane knows his own body better than anyone and being such an experienced player at this level he will know what he can and cannot do.

When you're in that kind of situation as a player it makes you a little more vigilant, a bit more protective of yourself and the team. We won't see Keane appear on the left wing one minute, the right wing the next, he'll just do the job in the centre and make sure we're right.

Bearing that in mind, I would imagine that's why Mick McCarthy picked Matt Holland, rather than Mark Kinsella, to play alongside him. Keane and Kinsella have been outstanding for Ireland but they're similar players, often doing the same job, while Holland is capable of getting forward more and getting a goal, so having him there will relieve Keane a little.

The only worry for me is that Keane wasn't fit to play against Liverpool last weekend, arguably Manchester United's biggest game of the season, and six days later he's fit to play in a World Cup Qualifier.

But there's always a point when you stop being injured and start progressing towards fitness; the hope is he reached that stage since last Sunday.

I don't think there are any surprises in the rest of the team. The loss of Damien Duff is a bit of bad luck, but I reckon the Iranians would have been a lot happier marking him than Niall Quinn, had Duff played up front beside Robbie Keane.

They will not have encountered anything like Niall before, whereas they'd be quite used to marking players like Duff.

I expect Quinn to be a key player for us, so long as we don't resort to Jack Charlton's "if Plan A doesn't work try Plan A", namely playing it long.

We're so close to the winning post now it's like the last furlong and you're never quite sure what you're going to get when you crack the whip. There's always the danger that if we don't score for a while and there's a bit of tension in the game the players might start to get a bit edgy, a bit nervy and be tempted to go a little bit long.

The vital thing is that we get the ball out to wide positions because we're good out there, that's where we stretch sides. If you start whacking the ball from the back up to Niall you go extremely narrow and international teams are used to that now so it's almost impossible to break through. Decent service in to Quinn will cause them problems.

Having seen Iran's games against the United Arab Emirates I would sum them up by saying they're very skilful - when they've got time. They will not have encountered "a Lansdowne Road" before. Apart from half an hour against Portugal, when they ran the game, we've put every team we've played at Lansdowne under pressure. Anybody can play when they've got time, but, when they haven't, when players are closing them down and making them hurry, they look ordinary.

That's basically how and why we've got to where we are, in all 10 of our qualifying games we've made every team we've played against hurry up. Iran won't be used to that.

Their manager, Miroslav Blazevic? Well, he's a con man, isn't he? He's a 21st century con man, in the nicest sense of the word. And he's very good at it. If they're knocked out and he's reminded of his promise to hang himself from the crossbar in Tehran he'll just say that he doesn't speak Farsi and he must have been misinterpreted, otherwise it could be Marie Antoinette revisited at the end of the game.

I'd hope for better but I'd settle for a 1-0 win and take our chances in the second leg because I always fancy us to get goals away from home, from set pieces, corners, whatever. The crucial thing is that we carry on playing as have done through the qualifiers, if we do that we'll be fine - and we'll be through to the World Cup.