There's a natural enough tendency these days for Robbie Keane to be asked about his plans for the future, at 35, after all, there can't be too many seasons left. You get the sense, though, that he'd rather talk about, literally, anything else than openly contemplate life after football.
Yes, he said, he’d love one day to manage his country, but, he reminds his audience, lest they forget: “I’m still a player and I still have plenty to offer”.
And for anyone who doubts he can still contribute, he had a gentle reminder: “I scored 20 goals in 24 games for Galaxy this year, so it’s not like I’m on my way out.”
Does he have to remind his manager, though, what he can contribute to this team?
67 goals
“I don’t think I need to do that,” he said with a look that that would have impressed the other Keane. “I think 67 goals probably says that a little bit, you know?”
Plenty of fire left in the belly, then, after Keane and the rest of the squad had finished their preparations at Abbotstown before departing Thursday morning for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
What role Keane will play in the game remains to seen, but having completely 90 minutes in just one group game (at home to Poland last March), he’s become accustomed to life on the bench, either retiring to or coming off it. Accustomed maybe, that’s not to say he likes it.
“I haven’t played for this long, at this level, to be happy to not play,” he said. “Every player wants to play. But the manager has to make a decision that’s right for the team and I keep saying it: the team is more important than any individual. And as captain, having been in the squad for a long time, if you’re not playing it is important that you’re not sulking, that you’re getting behind the team because we’re all in it together. And there is that togetherness about us. I think you’ve seen from the very start of the campaign we’ve certainly grown as a group.”
And that, he argued, was the primary reason the manager deserves a new contract. “It’d be silly if he didn’t get one, he’s obviously done a great job. We have that togetherness, and we have to continue that way. And as captain, I have to make sure that the players are ready. I’ll certainly be ready. I’ll play anywhere if I’m called upon, I’ll be more ready than anybody else.”
The mood in the camp, he said, reminded him of the build-up to the Euro 2012 play-offs against Estonia, “calm and confident, we’ve had that feeling all week in training”.
‘Work together’
He didn’t, though, anticipate the first leg being quite as comfortable as that night in Tallinn, when Ireland won 4-0, but still believes “if we can play to the best of our ability, if we work together as a team, I’m fairly confident this group of players can get something out of the game”.
The prospect of these two games being his last for Ireland? Don’t even go there.
“It’s the last thing I want to think about right now.”
