Soccer:The Irish squad announced by assistant manager Marco Tardelli this afternoon for the upcoming European Championship qualifiers against Armenia and Andorra shows few surprises but with just four recognised strikers Giovanni Trapattoni appears to hold limited attacking options.
Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long and Andy Keogh have all been included but Cillian Sheridan has to settle for a place on the Under-21 squad, while Caleb Folan and Leon Best are both injured.
Anthony Stokes’ man-of-the-match performance for the Ireland under-21s in their 5-0 victory over Estonia on August 10th was not enough to win the Hibernian striker a place in Trapattoni’s 25 man squad either.
Wigan midfielder James McCarthy must also content himself with a place in Noel King’s under-21 squad but Keith Treacy, who impressed when introduced as a second half substitute in Ireland’s recent defeat to Argentina, will make the journey with Trapattoni’s squad to Armenia for their opening game in Group B ahead of first home match against Andorra four days later.
“We go into this double header of qualifiers well prepared and confident having held a successful training camp in May and played a number of competitive and challenging friendly matches over the summer," said Tardelli in Wexford this afternoon.
“Playing Armenia in Yerevan will be a tough test for the team, but when we return to play our first competitive home game four days later, we hope to go to Aviva Stadium having made a positive start to the campaign.”
Meanwhile, King has selected an unchanged squad to travel to Switzerland and Turkey after Ireland’s resounding win over Estonia earlier this month.
The Under-21 boss, who has managed the Irish Women’s side for the last 10 years took charge of the men’s Under-21 team for the first time against Estonia and brought a dismal run of seven games without a win under previous manager Don Givens to an end. King will not travel to Switzerland and Turkey with the squad because he is managing the Irish Womens Under-17 squad at the World Cup finals.
FAI high performance director Wim Koevermans will oversee the Under-21 squad in King’s absence. Ireland cannot qualify for the European Championships in Denmark next year but Koevermans stressed the importance of the two remaining group games on September 3rd and 7th.
“While we can’t qualify for the European Championships, we want to end the campaign on a positive note," he said. "We showed against Estonia what this team is capable of, so we want to go to Switzerland and Turkey and put in the same kind of performance. Switzerland and Turkey are the top two teams in the group so it will be a difficult challenge, but the players will approach these matches determined to do themselves justice."
Republic of Ireland squad:Shay Given, Keiren Westwood, Joe Murphy; John O'Shea, Richard Dunne, Sean St Ledger, Greg Cunningham, Kevin Foley, Stephen Kelly, Paul McShane, Darren O'Dea, Kevin Kilbane; Keith Andrews, Glenn Whelan, Darron Gibson, Paul Green, Liam Lawrence, Aiden McGeady, Andy Keogh, Damien Duff, Keith Fahey, Keith Treacy; Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long
Republic of Ireland under-21 squad:Stephen Henderson, Shane Redmond; Seamus Coleman, Eddie Nolan, Gavin Gunning, Brendan Moloney, Rob Kiernan, Lanre Oyebanjo; Stephen Gleeson, Conor Hourihane, Owen Garvan, James McCarthy, Conor Clifford, Alan Judge; Cillian Sheridan, Aaron Doran, Anthony Stokes, Joe Mason