Irish Squad for Macedonia/Uruguay

March 14th, 2011 | by: Schwallacus | Comments Off

Hello again all you people, I am back again to announce the squad for the two upcoming games against Macedonia and Uruguay!! To add to the excitement that is St. Patrick’s Day/Week, there will be a fun little video at the end for you to all hopefully enjoy!

Anywho, what you all came here to read about: all 29 members of the squad as called upon by Trapattoni:

Westwood (Coventry City), Randolph (Motherwell), Forde (Milwall), Foley (Wolves), O’Shea (Manchester Utd), Clark (Aston Villa), Coleman (Everton), Dunne (Aston Villa), St. Ledger (Preston North End), O’Dea (Celtic), Kelly (Fulham), Kilbane (Huddersfield Town), Wilson (Stoke City), Gibson (Manchester Utd), Whelan (Stoke City), Green (Derby County), Lawrence (Portsmouth), McCarthy (Wigan), McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Treacy (Preston North End), Andrews (Blackburn), Fahey (Birmingham City), Duff (Fulham), Keane (West Ham), Walters (Stoke City), Doyle (Wolves), Long (Reading), Best (Newcastle), Keogh (Bristol City)

♣ Given is out as he injured his shoulder a while back, but should be around for the next set of matches hopefully.  The only concern is at goal since Given isn’t there, as Westwood has only played in a few caps, and none of those being important qualification matches but in friendlies and things like that.

♣ Our backups in Rudolph and Forde each have no caps at all, so lets hope that nothing happens to Westwood.  Or, if something bad does happen and Murphy’s Law comes into effect, that our defense will play magnificently and not have to worry about our current keeper situation.  It will be nice though to see the younger keepers and how they do as Ireland will be needing a successor to Given soon, since he probably won’t be playing until he’s 50.  Although, if he could be as amazing as he normally is at that age, I’ll take it… but that’s dreaming for a bit much.

♣ Our defense looked really good against Wales, although they weren’t tested too much.  It will be nice to see how Clark, Dunne, O’Shea, and St. Ledger do together in their first meaningful competition.  Nothing against the Carling Cup, as I would love it if the Irish won, but we need to qualify for the EUROs… PLEASE PEASE PLEASE!!

♣ The inner midfield looks set to be set with Whelan and either Gibson or Fahey being his partner.  It’s important to have a strong central midfield, especially when Duff or McGeady (whoever playing on the left of the midfield) attack, as they are both more offensive minded middies.  That way the wingers can attack and know that if they lose the ball, the central midfielders are there to clean up.

♣ Fun fact: Robbie Keane is the only member on the roster who has a double digit goal total.  He leads the team with 44 goals in 102 games.  This worries me a tad bit though, as we will need someone to fill his large shoes.  Doyle has been his main partner, and is closest to joining the double digit goal counter at 9, but I’m interested in seeing who will partner him in a few years.  My bet: Shane Long, who has 5 goals in 17 appearances, and has looked dangerous in the most recent games we’ve had.

That’s all for now, and I will probably be writing again shortly… but until then-

♣♣♣HAPPY ST. PADDY’S DAY TO YOU ALL!!! DRINK (Guinness and Jameson) AND BE MERRY, AND MAY THE WIND BE AT YOUR BACKS!♣♣♣

Oh yeah, the greatest commercial ever!??!