The Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy reacted with delight to his side's crucial equaliser against Germany after Robbie Keane's late goal ensured that the men in green might be a draw away from the second round of the World Cup finals.
McCarthy's men are 90 minutes away from emulating the legendary side from 1990 after the coach sent on Niall Quinn, the player whose flick-on set up Keane for the goal.
The coach said that he had made it clear to his team that he wants them to play for a win next week when the Irish team meets a Saudi Arabia side that is likely to have nothing to play for if they collapse again as they did against Germany on Saturday.
He said: "I've just said to the players `you've got to play the Saudis now and finish the job [reaching the second round] off'."
McCarthy was delighted to have made the decision to bring Quinn on for Gary Kelly in the 73rd minute and he refused to be upset about Keane's failure to put away a few previous opportunities.
He beamed: "I put Quinny on to do just that - get one of those lovely little flick-ons from a diagonal ball - and will-o-the-wisp Robbie's got in there and stuck it into the net.
"I am delighted for Robbie because centre forward's are judged on goals. It doesn't matter to them if they play well. For them they want to score goals - that's their business and he's scored a very vital one for us tonight.
"We had to take a chance to get a goal. We threw people forward to get a goal and it paid off. To be honest I think we've been the better side tonight. We've got passion and commitment and we're not a bad side."
McCarthy pointed out that he felt that Germany are a better side than they have been portrayed as and that Ireland's failure to collapse in front of them said more about his own team's quality than any German weakness.
"Germany have won the competition three times and there's a bit of a myth about them. With the greatest respect to them we thought we could play against them and that's been proved tonight. We've got a result against them.
"I said at half-time to them `don't play the Germans off the park and lose 1-0. Be the better side and come off with a result'."
Another player who came in for individual praise was the record-breaking Ireland captain, Steve Staunton, who won his 100th cap on the night.
"I thought Steve Staunton had a superb game tonight and all the lads work very hard for each other with a great team spirit.
"I thought it was summed up at our pre-match meal when the youngest lad in the squad, Steven Reid, presented Steve Staunton with a watch on behalf of the rest of the lads. It shows the team spirit they have and how fond they are of each other."
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