Niall Quinn has claimed that the dispute over Raheem Sterling's omission from the England team to face San Marino is reminiscent of the row which culminated in Roy Keane's departure from the Irish World Cup squad in 2002.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Quinn sees parallels between the situation with Sterling and England and the one faced by Roy Keane and Ireland in the lead up to the World Cup in Japan and Korea.
They have to sort the situation out rather than let it fester. We had a similar situation in a national team get-together – the World Cup play-off of 2002.
During the play-off win over Iran in November 2001, Keane played the first leg in Lansdowne Road before pulling out of the second leg trip to Tehran, something which Quinn says was the beginning of the end for Keane's involvement in the World Cup.
Our best player, Roy Keane, played the first game, was fatigued and went home for the second one. It never sat well [with the rest of the squad], a wedge started and everybody in Ireland know how that ended up.
