Reid goes back to where it all began

It's just over four years since Steven Reid mentioned to his then Millwall colleague Robbie Ryan his grandfather was from Ballinasloe. Ryan passed on the news to Don Givens and before he knew it the Londoner was making his Irish under-21 debut in, of all places, Cyprus.

The reminder brought a smile to Reid's face before he set off for Cyprus again, this time with the senior squad. "It'd be nice to come away with another win," he said, the smile conceding that "nice" was something of an understatement.

Back then an Andy O'Brien goal kept alive the under-21s' hopes of qualifying for the European Championships, a win on Saturday, Reid conceded, is no less essential to keep another set of qualifying hopes afloat. Whether the Blackburn midfielder will get to play his part, though, remains to be seen.

If you play do you think it will be on the right side of midfield? "It's one of them games I'd play in goal, if it was my only chance of being in the 11," he said. There have been limited opportunities in the senior team since Mick McCarthy gave him his debut against Croatia in August 2001, the same night Clinton Morrison made his bow.

Morrison with, admittedly, considerably less competition for his position, has since accumulated 32 caps, compared to Reid's 14, 10 of them in friendlies. If Brian Kerr names him in his team for Saturday it will be a first for Reid: he has never started a competitive game for Ireland.

The statistics, then, tell the story of a frustrating four years for the player who made his senior competitive debut for Ireland in the World Cup finals.

"That's been the highlight of my career really, when Mick McCarthy gave me the call to come on after about an hour against Cameroon, that took me back a bit," he said. "Looking around the ground was an unbelievable experience, seeing all the green shirts, amazing. I was on my way on holidays one minute and next minute I was flying to Japan," he said, recalling his late call-up to the squad following the withdrawal through injury of Mark Kennedy.

Ironically Reid's hopes of being involved in Saturday's game are largely due to the absence of Roy Keane and Andy Reid, the return of the former and the emergence of the latter two of the reasons he has added so few caps to his tally in the last two years.

"A lot was expected of me after the World Cup, from the public and probably more importantly from myself. Having got a look-in during the World Cup it would have been nice to go on from there but a mixture of injuries and, at times, a lack of form, well, it didn't quite happen - but I'm just glad to be back in the fold now. I'm hoping I'll be in the 11 on Saturday," he said. "Of course we have big players missing but it's up to the players who are called upon to step in to their shoes, whoever it is - hopefully I'll be involved myself."

Hopeful, then, but even in the absence of Andy Reid and Keane, the Blackburn midfielder acknowledges the midfield options available to Kerr, amongst them Kevin Kilbane, Matt Holland, Graham Kavanagh, Steve Finnan and Liam Miller - and, of course, Damien Duff, depending on what role he will fill against Cyprus.

Selected or not he remains optimistic about the team's hopes of recovering from the loss to France and taking six points from the final two games.

"We're confident we can beat both teams on our day," he said. "Switzerland have been a bit of a bogey side the last few years and the lads will go in to that game knowing that, but first things first - if we get a win on Saturday we can then go in to the Switzerland game and put those results from the past to bed.

"We were really down after the French game but we know if we win the last two we have a great shout. Without a shadow of a doubt, with the players we have, these are two games we can win and we're confident we can.

"We'd be devastated if we didn't make it. Personally, for me, the World Cup experience was unbelievable, not just the actual matches but having the whole nation behind you. For a month or so the whole focus is on playing for your country, knowing that everyone is behind you, you carry the hopes of not only yourself and your team but the whole country."

Does playing in the World Cup still mean as much to players, now that club football - the Champions League and all that - has become so big?

"Well, you only have to look at Roy (Keane) coming back into the fold, he's probably desperate to play in that World Cup next summer, like all of us. It's definitely the highlight of a player's career, you can go on about club football all you like, but to play in a World Cup? There's nothing better than that."