Republic of Ireland v Brazil:Less than 24 hours after being ruled out with a knee injury, Robbie Keane has emerged as a likely starter against Brazil in tomorrow's glamour friendly at the Emirates. The on-loan Celtic striker received treatment in Glasgow today and was passed fit to travel south after being assessed by the club's medical staff.
Keane played all 90 minutes of the Old Firm derby on Sunday but aggravated an existing knee problem during the 1-0 defeat at Ibrox. Celtic took the decision to withdraw him last night but had a change of heart today, agreeing to allow the Ireland captain join his international teammates in London.
Although Keane has yet to be confirmed as a starter by Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni, his last-minute addition to the party should deny Coventry’s Leon Best a place alongside Kevin Doyle.
The FAI said tonight “it is probable that Trapattoni will wait until the players have a light session tomorrow morning before deciding”.
Hibernian’s Anthony Stokes, who had been drafted in to replace his skipper yesterday, is expected to remain with the squad.
While Keane’s inclusion represents something of a surprise, there were few earlier today when Trapattoni named his original selection. The only major talking point was how the Irish defence, with Paul McShane at the heart of it after Richard Dunne was ruled out through injury, would cope against the hugely talented South Americans.
Dunne picked up a knock in yesterday’s Carling Cup final defeat to Manchester United and will miss the friendly at Emirates Stadium. McShane will partner Seán St Ledger in front of goalkeeper Shay Given. Birmingham’s Stephen Kelly and veteran Kevin Kilbane will start in the full-back positions.
The Italian has opted for the same midfield quartet that started the World Cup play-off second leg against France last November. Liam Lawrence and Damien Duff will start on the right and left respectively, with Glenn Whelan and Keith Andrews set to man the centre of midfield.
Trapattoni has indicated his intention to use all the available outfield substitutes, meaning there are debuts in store for Marc Wilson (Portsmouth), Greg Cunningham (Manchester City) and James McCarthy (Wigan Athletic).
There remains a doubt over the latter because of an ankle injury but Trapattoni is hopeful the young Scot, who declared for Ireland to the chagrin of his countrymen, will have recovered in time.
Aiden McGeady and Stephen Hunt are likely to be deployed on the flanks at some stage, while free-scoring Hibernian striker Anthony Stokes and Reading’s Shane Long are expected to feature as well.
“We will start with the experienced players, because to put all the youngsters in against a team like this would be dangerous,” said Trapattoni today.
“It will be important for us to play with the same mentality and performance as we did against France and Italy. But we will need more attention, because Brazil are a great team — every player can score a goal, they have so many creative and technical players.
“We will prepare with 100 per cent attention and be compact, because we must not only press them, we can also not let such great players like Kaka have too much space.
“We need to be compact, every player must help his team-mate, be organised. If we play with the order like we did against Italy and France, then we can do it against Brazil.”
Trapattoni believes McCarthy has a bright future at international level but is reluctant to put too much pressure on the 19-year-old at this stage.
“In Italy it is the same as Ireland — where there is a young player with big potential, everybody has great expectation. Only Pele, Maradona and Cruyff were stars at 19 — everyone must grow and develop, with personality, slowly, slowly, step by step.”
Tomorrow’s game is the first of four warm-up matches ahead of the competitive qualifying action, when Ireland will prepare to face Russia, Slovakia, Macedonia, Armenia and Andorra.
Republic of Ireland(v Brazil): Given (capt), Kelly, McShane, St Ledger, Kilbane; Lawrence, Whelan, Andrews, Duff; Keane, Doyle. Substitutes:Long, Stokes, Wilson, McCarthy, Cunningham, Hunt, McGeady, Murphy, Westwood, Best