After two scouting trips to the Middle East to watch Iran win 1-0 in Tehran last week and then 3-0 in Abu Dhabi last night, he may wish he'd kept it that way. He now knows that over two legs on November 10 and 15, Iran are well capable of blocking Ireland's passage to South Korea and Japan.

McCarthy's opposite number, Miroslav Blazevic, who took his native Croatia to the last four of France 98, is so desperate to beat the Irish that he has staked his life on it. "I will take a rope and hang myself," he said when asked what he would do if he failed.

Even if something was added to the translation by Blazevic's assistant and interpreter Reza Chalangar, the Croat knows that failure to qualify will not be tolerated by 120,000 of the world's most demonstrative fans, who are expected to pack into the 100,000 capacity Azadi stadium for the deciding match.

"This game is the biggest thing in Iran right now," said Ehsan Hosseini before yesterday's clash. "It is more than a football match. There is too much expectation and the pressure is immense."

It could all have been so much easier for Iran who lost out on automatic qualification in controversial circumstances two weeks ago following a shock 3-1 defeat at the hands of Bahrain. Iran claimed that Bahrain fielded three ineligible players in their qualification campaign. Fifa rejected their appeal to have the game replayed, leaving Saudi Arabia as the automatic qualifiers and Iran facing the double hurdle of UAE and the Republic of Ireland.

Iran had no problem overcoming UAE in the end, especially with the return from suspension of Ali Daei, universally considered Iran's finest ever player, averaging a goal a game for his country. The 32-year-old opened the scoring last night from a free-kick - his eleventh goal of the qualifying campaign.

Daei plays his club football for Hertha Berlin, having previously been with Bayern Munich. He is joined in the Bundesliga by compatriot Mehdi Mahdavikia, who plays on the wing for SV Hamburg. Both have said they would like to ply their trade in the Premiership. "I really want to go to England but my club has not agreed," Daei said while still with Bayern. "God helped me a lot and I wish to really make the move to England."

One of Iran's other scorers last night, Kharim Bagheri, is the only Iran player to have done just that (although admittedly he played just 18 minutes for Charlton against Ipswich last season.) "Playing in Europe has been very good for our players in making progress," said Daei.

They are making progress, but Iran have long been a force in Asian football, three times winning the Asian Cup. It was not until 1941 that they played their first ever international - a friendly against Afghanistan - but by 1964 they had made the Olympic grade, qualifying for the Tokyo Games that year.

They reached their first World Cup in Argentina in 1978 to wild jubilation. After a 3-0 defeat in their first match against the eventual runners-up Holland, they took on perhaps the strongest ever Scotland side with Kenny Dalglish in attack and Archie Gemmill as captain.

Shortly before half-time, Eskandarian scored an own-goal, but Iran secured a point with an equaliser from Iraj Danaifard after 60 minutes. One of Iran's finest hours was one of Scotland's darkest, though the draw eliminated both countries from the second phase.

The following year saw the start of the Islamic Revolution and the subsequent war with neighbouring Iraq, which stunted the growth of the game. It was 20 years before they qualified again, and they did so in dramatic fashion.

All Australia needed to secure their place at France 98 was a scoreless draw in the second leg of the play-off. They had won 12 of the 13 games under the direction of Terry Venables who had arrived in January 1997, beating Norway amongst others. The only draw had come against Iran in the first leg. But in an extraordinary game in Melbourne which included eight minutes of extra time, Iran went through on away goals after a dramatic two-goal comeback.

Having qualified for France 98 Iran were then drawn in the same group as their most bitter political enemies, USA. The biggest football match in the country's history was usurped by politicians and the importance of the game began to spiral out of proportion. Iranian striker Khadaded Aziz said: "Many families of Iranian martyrs are expecting us to win. We will win for their sake. This is the most important game of my life."

Alan Rothenberg of the US Soccer Federation said, "The only thing that can make it better is if Fifa designate an Iraqi referee." Fifa president Sepp Blatter plumped for Urs Meier, from peace-loving Switzerland instead.

Before the match, flowers and handshakes were exchanged and pretty pictures taken together. Tempers flared briefly when Azizi was upended by goalkeeper Kasey Keller, only for Meier to deny Iran a blatant penalty, but luck evened itself out when Claudio Reyna's left-foot drive rebounded off a post minutes later.

Iran seized the initiative shortly before half-time. Javad Zarincheh crossed from the right and Hamid Estili sent a glancing header drifting beyond Keller's right hand. Cue bedlam. Mahdavikia scampered through to finish emphatically from 15 yards seven minutes from time, and Tehran became party central.

"The strong and arrogant opponent felt the bitter taste of defeat. Be happy that you have made the Iranian nation happy," said the magnanimous Ayatollah Ali Khamenei afterwards.