McCarthy waiting on personal response from axed Keane
Stephen Wood
Ireland manager Mick McCarthy played down suggestions on Tuesday that Roy Keane could make a dramatic return to his squad.
Keane, sent home in disgrace last week after a "slanging match" with McCarthy at a squad meeting, told Irish television channel RTE on Monday that "the ball is in their court" over his immediate future.
But McCarthy, whose side face Cameroon in their group E opener in Niigata on Saturday, wants a personal apology from his axed captain.
"I haven't had a phonecall from Roy or heard from him at all," McCarthy was quoted as saying by Ireland spokesman Brendan McKenna.
Asked if he would take Keane back if the Manchester United midfielder apologised for his outburst, McCarthy said: "That's just a hypothetical question."
He added: "This (issue) is very frustrating...I don't like it being conducted through the media."
Keane, unhappy at his team's training facilities on the Pacific island of Saipan last week, launched a tirade of abuse at McCarthy in a meeting called to clear the air.
The 30-year-old is now back at home in England while behind-the-scenes moves take place in a desperate attempt to get him reinstated.
However, McCarthy has already insisted that he would consider his own position if Keane made a return to their World Cup squad.
Although he insisted he had "nothing to apologise for" in the television interview, Keane said he understood that McCarthy had little choice but to send him home.
He also added that he would still mean a lot to him to represent his country at this year's finals, which begin on Friday.
Another of Ireland's senior players, Niall Quinn, wrote in a column for the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday: "Roy's tirade of abuse last Thursday was a step too far...once it had finished and Roy had left the room I was the first person to speak.
"I asked if the situation was retrievable but even the greatest optimist on the planet would have known it wasn't. We the players knew that we had to back Mick McCarthy 100 percent and that's what we're doing."
Ireland also face Germany and Saudi Arabia in group E.
