Republic suffer blow as Keane ruled out with injury

REPUBLIC of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni was dealt a major blow yesterday when skipper Robbie Keane was forced to withdraw from the squad for the World Cup qualifier against Austria.

The 32-year-old striker – his country’s leading goalscorer on 54 goals – who had hoped to win his 124th cap, underwent a scan on the calf strain he suffered during Friday’s 0-0 draw in Sweden and the results confirmed that he will be unable to play on Tuesday evening.

Wolves frontman Kevin Doyle, who was informed by text that he had not made the final 23 for the double-header, has been drafted in as a replacement.

The deserved point which Trapattoni’s men gained in Stockholm kept them firmly in the race for second place in Group C, although they dropped to fourth place as a result of Austria’s 6-0 demolition of the Faroe Islands. 
However, with the Swedes not in action on Tuesday, victory over the Austrians will give the Republic possession, for the time being at least, of the runners-up spot.

In considering whether to field the same team at the Aviva Stadium as he did at the Friends Arena, with the exception of Keane, Trapattoni said, rather coyly: “In this game, we must think about all our possibilities. It’s a game we want to win, but also those who don’t start, the one or two or three changes (substitutions) will be very, very important.”

Trapattoni delivered something of a curve ball in the run-up to the Sweden game when he initially named winger Robbie Brady in his team, and then revealed he was not certain he would in fact start – an attempt, he said, to spark a reaction from the Hull midfielder.

In the event, the 74-year-old opted for a double change when Glenn Whelan’s ankle injury prevented him from taking part, replacing the Stoke man with the more creative James McCarthy and asking Jon Walters to patrol the right side of midfield instead.

Having already placed himself in the firing line by informing striker Doyle he would not be in the squad only by text, Trapattoni courted further criticism with his treatment of Brady, but was swift to attempt to clarify his decision.

He said: “Reporters in the world are good at writing pieces, but I never said he was confused. What I wanted to say was that I wanted to stimulate him psychologically. I want to see him stronger psychologically. But I never said – or I didn’t mean to say – that he was confused. The headlines then are a different story.”

Whelan has returned to training today and is expected to resume against Austria, but Trapattoni has a doubt over Walters, who has a back problem.

The manager went into the game in Stockholm knowing defeat might have signalled an end to his reign amid speculation that former Reading boss Brian McDermott is already being lined up as his replacement, but emerged from it, as he has done so often during his time at the helm to date, having been largely vindicated.

His decision to prefer 33-year-old David Forde to the action-starved Keiren Westwood paid off, as did the selections of Seamus Coleman, Ciaran Clark and Marc Wilson in a new-look defence and Paul Green, James McClean, McCarthy and Walters in midfield.