Mick McCarthy yesterday rejected suggestions that his team lacks the physical presence to win what threatens to be a volatile World Cup play-off in the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on Saturday evening.

There was a time in the early part of Jack Charlton's reign, when Ireland was perceived as an unusually physical side which generally won that element of battle before bringing superior skills to bear on the opposition.

McCarthy, himself, was a prime personality in the implementation of that stratagem at a time when players of the stature of Kevin Moran, Paul McGrath and Frank Stapleton, were all capable of looking after themselves in difficult situations.

There are few big hitters of note among the present squad but the manager is quick to dismiss the theory that far from intimidating others, they, themselves are now in danger of being roughed out of the game by a Belgian side which didn't stand on ceremony in the original 1-1 draw at Lansdowne Road.

"People equate commitment with size and that is obviously wrong," he said. "Players like Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles, Kenny Dalglish or even Toto Schillaci, weren't particularly big but they were totally committed when it came to winning."

Refusing to be drawn into the controversy over the refusal of the Hungarian referee Lazslo Wagner to penalise some blatant body checking by the Belgians in the first game, McCarthy said that he didn't anticipate an unusually physical game in Brussels.

But he warned that both teams will be vastly committed. "With so much at stake, I'd be amazed if it were otherwise. But we have to show by our attitude that we want to win the game more than they do. And we will."

After watching a video of the first game, McCarthy refuses to accept that the Belgians created the bulk of the scoring chances first time out or, equally contentious, that the protection for his two centre backs was scattered. I suspect that he would get serious argument on both counts and that the composition of his team, to be announced just before the kick off, will give substance to the second point.

That said, the manager is on much more solid ground when he offers the opinion that much of the pressure has now shifted to Belgium and that his team, which didn't play particularly well in Dublin, can profit significantly, from the new situation.

Listing a better and more regular delivery of the ball to the front runners - "I still prefer to go with two strikers when I can" - as one of the top priorities in the second game, he will also be looking for added security at the back when the Belgians go in search of a vital early strike.

At this point, he insists that Ray Houghton is still a probable starter, rubbishing suggestions that the injury which again kept the Reading player out of training yesterday, is more serious that the management team cares to admit.

Houghton, crucial to Irish hopes of turning the screw on a Belgian defence which too often, appeared to be in unhurried control in the original game, will travel as scheduled, when the squad leaves Dublin this morning and will, presumably, be subjected to the rigours of a full test before the team is named.

Also marked absent from training yesterday were Terry Phelan and David Kelly but in each instance, the action was described as precautionary. Phelan, required as cover for most of the World Cup programme, has had his chances of a recall inflated by the absence of Denis Irwin but ultimately, they are largely dependant, one imagines on what McCarthy has in mind for Steve Staunton.

Kelly, whose unexpectedly quick recovery from the ankle injury which put him out of contention for the first game a fortnight ago is a big bonus for McCarthy, will apply extra pressure on the two front men, Tony Cascarino and David Connolly.

The three other play-off ties will also be completed on Saturday and for the Ukraine who host a visit by Croatia at Kiev, the countdown to action, has brought a major problem and a scandal to match anything in football this year.

Sergiy Nagomyak tested positive for the masking agent, Bromantan after the first game which Coatia won 2-0 and is automatically debarred from playing again until his case has been reviewed by FIFA's World Cup Organising Committee.

It is the first positive testing in the current series of more than 640 qualifying games for the World Cup finals. To this point, some 19 random doping tests have been carried out.