SECOND ROUND COUNTDOWN/ Republic of Ireland v Spain: Just a few metres from the Irish team's new base in Seoul stands a modest shrine, the Temple of Heaven, an ornate little building that offers a quiet refuge from the frantic bustle of the streets in South Korea's sprawling capital city.

Two days into the second phase of their great World Cup adventure, the majority of Mick McCarthy's players look like men who could teach its proprietors a thing or two about tranquility, most having now achieved perfect spiritual harmony on the football pitches of Niigata, Ibaraki and Yokohama.

Inside their hotel, it seems as hectic as the three-lane highways that dissect Seoul in every direction, with the first of the supporters arriving every hour in the hope of securing tickets for Sunday's game and foreign journalists dropping in to size up a team already regarded here as one of the tournament's minor surprise packages.

If the players looked relaxed in their new surroundings, though, McCarthy himself was more agitated than at any time since he and his squad first got together for this trip in Sunderland about a month ago.

The press pack having grown by 50 per cent or so during the past couple of days probably hasn't helped his humour, while a story run in several papers yesterday that he complained to FIFA over the quality of the training facilities offered to him here in Korea certainly appeared to have irritated him.

Neither factor seemed to adequately explain the levels of displeasure displayed by the Irish coach at yesterday's meeting with the media, however, when there were clear signs very early on that all McCarthy's efforts to engage with journalists in a more upbeat way, admirably pursued even through the darkest hours of the Roy keane affair, had run badly out of steam.

A question about the training ground story kicked things off, with McCarthy responding by complaining that despite everything that has been achieved to date, "I'm sitting here talking about bull again".

Fractiously, he went on to explain that after being offered a choice of three he had, without any problems, taken the second he had seen.

Quickly, somebody asked about the day-to-day business of injuries and things improved a little with McCarthy having no difficulty in informing us that Damien Duff (knee), Steve Staunton (thigh), Kevin Kilbane (ankle) and Robbie Keane (groin) are all carrying knocks but should be okay for Sunday evening.

But when a Spanish reporter inquired about how McCarthy felt his side might do against one that "appears to be more skilled", the man who actually takes a fair degree of pride at having been a stopper during his own playing days started to take umbrage at the implied slight to the members of his current squad.

Having been dutifully respectful towards Jose Camacho and his players and having mentioned that he feels his players are "quite skilled too", McCarthy then gradually became more barbed in his remarks, although mainly to the Irish press, observing caustically that if he polled those in the room as to whether the Spanish were the more talented players, "I might get a 99 per cent vote that that's the case."

The implication was, of course, that the majority would be wrong, something that clearly puts him at odds with coaches at the sort of European clubs who have the resources to pick and choose between Spanish and Irish internationals.

"I know how negative you all are," he added a little while later, "I can feel the lack of confidence. But then I could feel it from you before the Cameroon game, and Germany. If we were relying on you lot for confidence we'd be knackered."

The Spaniards, he insisted, should not be too confident either. "There's been too many shocks in football to suggest we can't win this game.

"Our results suggest that sort of presumption is nonsense, our form suggests it and I've seen too many teams come to play Ireland expecting to win easily only to get a bit of a spanking."

There were questions about his memories of previous meetings between these two sides. Asked about whether the 1-0 win in 1989 stood out as one of the biggest victories of his playing days he said yes, it did, and asked what he remembered of the friendly game in 1985, he hesitated before recalling that the score had been 0-0.

"Do you remember Jose Camacho playing in that game," McCarthy was asked by a Spaniard and, with a slight hint of embarrassment at not being able to play ball, he admitted that no, he didn't while adding: "I can't really remember who played for our lot that day."

Undeterred, our Spanish friend asked whether he remembered his opposite number as a player at all and, after a long pause, McCarthy breathed a heavy sigh before putting an end to the topic for the day by conceding: "No, I can't really. And I bet he's got a bloody big dossier on me during my days at Barnsley."