Recognising he had a fairly limited group of players at his disposal, with the exception of a handful of talented names such as Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Shay Given, Trapattoni executed a well-organised game-plan that would see the Irish progress as the only unbeaten team in the World Cup play-off draw.
West said that given this "cloud of suspicion, " certain practices would be changed: the secretary of the Army would inform military oversight committees each time an exception is made, and that the names would be made public as well.
But by the time the quarter-finals came around it was, mostly, the big names which had made it through - with the honourable exception of Zambia's Chipolopolo, who deservedly made it through after playing with verve and style.