Saipan film will feature Steve Coogan as head coach of Ireland in 2002 World Cup fallout

Steve Coogan will play Mick McCarthy in a new film portraying the events of the Republic of Ireland manager’s bust-up with captain Roy Keane ahead of the 2002 World Cup. Keane ended up exiting the camp of Ireland, before the start of the tournament in Japan and South Korea after misunderstanding with McCarthy.

The pair were involved in a verbal altercation after Keane had given an interview to a newspaper bemoaning the preparation and facilities laid on by the Football Association of Ireland. Keane had already been convinced to reconsider a decision to quit the squad, only for the falling out to lead to the Manchester United midfielder leaving anyway.

The film will be called Saipan – named after the Japanese island were Ireland were based – and will tell the story of events leading up to Keane’s departure, with Alan Partridge star Coogan confirmed in the role of McCarthy. Keane will be played by Eanna Hardwicke with production due to start soon with a slated release date of next summer.

The producers of film Macdara Kelleher and John Keville revealed that the Audience will experiment what happened during the controversial between player as well as the coach and stated that they drafted down a millions of words regarding the incident.

Macdara Kelleher and John Keville said “A million words have been written about what happened on that fateful week in 2002 on the tiny island of Saipan,” said producers Macdara Kelleher and John Keville. Next year audiences will finally get to experience first hand the feud between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy and why it was labelled ‘the worst preparation for a World Cup campaign ever.”

The same year, Ireland finished second after going unbeaten in Group E, including their game against Germany where they managed to force the match to be decided by penalty shoot-out against Spain in the round of 16 without the service of Kane.

McCarthy resigned in November 2002 and Keane returned to the Ireland squad after the nation announced the new coach Brian Kerr, but didn’t last soo long as he retired from international football after he failed to help the nation to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

BY LUCKY SEANEGO