I hope the French fans will be ready because I know the Irish will be, ... It's a long road to the (2006) World Cup and we will need support all along the way.

I play for Manchester United. I don't need the coach to explain my role to me, ... It's my duty to go to the younger players in the team and help them along.

Our fans will have to be present in numbers on Saturday.

He is proud of his roots. We talked together a lot about his misadventure in the 2002 World Cup, ... Roy is an incredible player.

A third of the public will be supporting the visitors. It's just amazing.

They play the ball up quickly to the strikers, and are very solid, ... It's important to get a good result in France as it's very hard to win over there (in Ireland).

It would be a big thrill to play against him, ... It is my country versus his country, and I know how proud Roy is to play for Ireland.

It's not when you are world champions that you need supporters.

I'm aware that a match against Ireland doesn't have the appeal of one against Brazil. But if we want to play Brazil again we first have to beat Ireland. We can't skip steps.