I had expected to be playing in the reserves and, all going well, that I might get a chance in the first team towards the end of the season. But it has all happened much faster than I could ever have thought.

I know it will take a little time to adapt to a different team and a different league.

At Leeds I've tried to concentrate on my club form, but you get caught up in all the World Cup fever once you come back to Ireland and see all the Irish boys again.

I'm not saying it wouldn't have happened if I'd come to Anfield then (1997), but I always held out hope that I'd come back and this is a real dream come true for me.

Top players don't come much topper than Gerrard and Carragher

We have a great sense of togetherness. It is our team spirit that has taken us to this World Cup.

A Rod: An attractively painted length of fiberglass that keeps an angler from ever getting too close to a fish.