That goes with the man of the week right now, Robbie Keane, scoring his 50th and 51st goals for The Republic of Ireland.  In doing so, he is the highest scoring international of the British Isles, making him the highest scoring international with more goals than the highest scorers of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.  Give a huge round of applause for Mr Keane, who showed us why he is so valuable to us even though he’s been playing for Ireland for a very long time.

As for the game, we played pretty well considering we were missing some valuable parts to our lineup.  Both Duff and Dunne were missing from the lineup, leaving both our midfield and defense with untested spots.  Those roles were filled though and our defense looked pretty good.  We got off to a great start thanks to Keane’s first strike, about 8 minutes into the game.  The Macedonian defense decided to give Keane a large amount of space in front of him, so he took a pass and fired a shot from about 20 yards out, which deflected off a defender and went past the goalie.  Definitely a decent shot, but the deflection helped it go in.  A great way for Keane to get his half century of goals!!  His next goal came in the 36th minute, when a weak back pass was scoped out and intercepted by Keane, who easily put the ball in the back of the net to give Ireland a 2-0 lead.  Overall, away fromhome, we played a pretty good game both offensively and defensively.  Aside from a foul inside the box by O’Shea, which was a stupid foul to give.  However, Macedonia were unable to get back into the game as the ensuing penalty hit the crossbar and was cleared.

Most of the action occurred in the first half of the game, and aside from a few chances here and there for both teams, the second half was us just trying to protect our lead.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Yes, we also played Italy today and BEAT THEM 2-0, and there will definitely be a report on that soooooon!  Hope you all are rockin socks and have a great day! Slainte!! ♣

Stephen Ward 24′

Robbie Keane 37′

Cathcart (og) 45′

Robbie Keane 54′

Stephen Cox 80′

Talk about a beatdown… more on the match later, plus a preview of the Last Carling Cup game, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND VS. SCTOLAND!!!

110

0

7

0

0

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65

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69

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5

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109

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23

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3

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27

2

1

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Darron Gibson Manchester United FC

16

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39

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10

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13

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Anthony Stokes Celtic FC

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87

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16

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41

9

This is the roster, as announced by Trapattoni for the upcoming games against Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Macedonia.  There are a lot of people on this list due to many players carrying injuries as well as their form at the moment, which puts maybes on a lot of players.  Due to the extensive list of injuries, Trap was forced to call in a lot of extra players as a backup in case some of the senior members were unable to play.

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 24th of May, 2011, Ireland have a game against our northern neighbors, Northern Ireland.  It is our second game of the Carling Nations Cup, following our 3-0 victory over Wales a few months ago.  Hopefully we can continue some good form in this mini tournament, and get prepared for our second EURO 2012 QUALIFIER game against Macedonia in mid June.  The starting roster was announced earlier today, so I will give that to you now;

Given (Manchester City);

McShane (Hull City), Delaney (Ipswich Town), Kelly (Fulham), Wilson (Stoke City);

Lawrence (Portsmouth)/Coleman (Everton), Andrews (Blackburn Rovers), Fahey (Birmingham City)/Foley (Wolves), Treacy (Preston North End);

Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Cox (West Bromwich Albion).

Based off of this roster, I’m assuming Trap is waiting for the game against Scotland to get the squad that he will use against Macedonia.  For this game however, he’s getting playing time either for some newer lads to get some time in the side, see who he likes/ has a decent chance of making an impact in the future, or getting some of the veterans playing time to shake off some dust (Keane, Given).

I like that even though this squad features players with minimal amounts of caps, they are being given a chance to show what they have, and whether or not they will be getting future call ups, or possibly breaking into the starting 11 for the EURO 12 Qualifiers, and hopefully the EURO 12 tournament in Poland-Ukraine in a year.

McShane and Kelly have seen some time with the senior squad, having played 21 and 23 games respectively, and Delaney and Wilson have seen very little time, with just 1 and 3 appearances for the Irish.  In Midfield, Fahey has 10 caps, Lawrence has 13, Andrews has 16, and Foley has .  Coleman and Treacy are the backups for Lawrence and Foley if they aren’t fit, and both of them only have a few caps between them.  Aside from Given and Keane, who are over the century mark for appearances, the team is relatively young and inexperienced.  It will be good to see how they handle a meaningful game, as even though the Carling Cup is a friendly tournament, it is something we should try to win.  Hopefully the squad does well!!

“We have the right squad. We have more than one option for each position.”

-Trapattoni

Due to his form this season he is being highly sought after, so he may even get a chance to join a bigger club!!  I just hope that, if he chooses to leave Reading, he gets a lot of playing time wherever he ends up so he can continue to grow and become a strong, all around striker.  Definitely a lot of potential from this fiery young lad.

In other news, congrats to Shay Given on winning the FA Cup with Manchester City, even though he hasn’t played too much for them at all due to Joe Hart kicking rump.  I hope he can find a club where he can get a lot of playing time, especially if he can play in the Euro Cup or Champions League.  He still has a few years left in him still, so I hope a big club picks him up… maybe Arsenal even?  I think that’d be a good fit.

West Ham has been relegated, meaning Robbie Keane is probably going to find another club… at least I hope so.  He needs to settle down at some club for more than a few months.  I think all these transfers back and forth between Tottenham, Celtic, and West Ham have been hurting him.  Maybe his form will turn around.

That’s all I have for now, but I will be back soon!!  Slainte!!

Yes, it is black.  I do not mind the change, as most Irish away jerseys were white.  I like the idea behind it of switching it up and whatnot, but the way it was executed is kind of… meh.  I don’t like the green stripe across the chest and sleeves, as it looks more like a regular old shirt that I got at JCPenney rather than a kit.  Plus, I know it gets them more money, BUT THE 3 NEEDS TO GO. ASAP.  I want to be able to buy an Ireland jersey and put the number there, not just on the back.  If anything, put the 3 on the sleeve like other teams do.  Or if other teams don’t do that, then I suggest you start something new.

Oh well, at least the track jacket looks pretty decent:

For more information on the jersey and the idea behind it, click HERE!

I may change my opinion upon seeing it in person and on the players and such, BUT WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE THINK??  Yay? Nay? Okay? No way? Jose?

Wowzers, Walters had a great game for Stoke City as they crushed Bolton 5-0.  He finished off the scoring by netting the final two goals for Stoke, with his first goal of the game, Stoke’s fourth, being absolutely magnificent.  His fifth one was decent, but WOW on the fourth.

Made a nice run with the ball for 20 yards or so keeping the Bolton defender away from him, stops, makes a cut, and hits a beautiful curler into the bottom right corner of the goal past a helpless keeper from 20 yards out.  I’ll take him as my national team striker any day

His second goal was okay, just a little chip over a defender and keeper from a few yards out, but it is definitely his first goal of the game that was absolutely WONDERFUL!!!  Brought a tear to my eye, it did!

Just have the highlights since I was unable to catch the game, I will have a summary up tomorrow or Thursday.

Just a few points from what I saw in the highlight video above:

♣Shane Long looked great on both the goals that we scored.  On the first one he brought the ball down, muscled someone off and laid it off to a teammate, got up from the ground and scored on the immediate cross.  I really, really like where Long is going, and it he can keep this up then I would rather see him on the pitch than Doyle, who seemed to be in a funk.  That was before he got injured though, so Long may be playing a lot more when it counts now anyway.

♣ Fahey stepped up well and put the penalty kick in the back of the net, which is nice to know when we have our fringe players, they too can step up just in case we need them.

♣ Our defense looked shaky on two of the goals, and a little bit of luck for Uruguay on their first goal.  The first one was scored off a freekick, on a ball that was supposed to be headed away instead being headed into a Uruguay player, bounced to a teammate and booted in.  the other two goals however, we looked a little flat footed.  The first one we got grouped up into the middle of the pitch right at the top of the 18 box, and all the player had to do was find a player on the outside, pass it to him, and score.  No one was close to the outside winger, which left him open and thus able to take a nice shot and dump it in the corner.  The other one was a break in which our left back decided to head in and allow a run behind him, leaving the goal scorer with acres of space, allowing him to take a shot and score.

♣ Like I said before, I didn’t see the whole match, so our defense could have been good, possibly terrible throughout the whole game.  Maybe Long just showed up for the two goals that we scored, and had a bad day elsewhere.  Maybe he had an awesome day though and was rewarded by setting up and finishing one of the goals.  I don’t know… yet.  Hope you guys have an awesome day though, and I will be back soon with a whole game recap/ thoughts and such.

sláinte!

We won!! Now we are tied with Russia and Slovakia on 10 points in Group B, and leading based off of goal differential.  I just have a few key points after watching a replay of the match:

♣Our starting lineup looked very interesting in that many of the original or should be starters were out with injury, so some of the starters against Macedonia are people who normally wouldn’t be getting that much playing time.  The Starting lineup was:

Westwood

Kilbane, Dunne, O’Dea, Foley

Duff, Gibson, Whelan, McGeady

Doyle, Keane

While the strikers and midfield looked strong and threatening, I was curious to see how Kilbane, Foley, O’Dea, and Dunne would play together and be able to get the job done.  Macedonia isn’t a powerhouse, but they do have the ability to cause some chaos and disrupt plans, as I brought up in my previous post.

If there was a way to start a game, Ireland found it.  Or was at least very close to achieving it.  Before two minutes were off the clock, we had the lead.  McGeady took a pass, faked taking the ball wide, brought it in and fired a curling shot off the keeper’s hands and into the bottom left corner.  One heck of a way to score your first goal for your country.  The goalie probably should’ve done better with the shot, but a great start to the night for Ireland.

♣Duff and McGeady looked threatening with many of their touches going forward.  Duff made great runs toward the goal from the right, and McGeady was creative and quick moving around on the left.  This is the first time both of them have been playing on opposite wings, and wowzers.  They were tearing the defense to pieces and forcing Macedonia to bring their midfielders back to play more in their own half.  In other games Duff or McGeady have been the only creative force going forward, so the defense was able to shift their weight to that side.  But, with both sides being threatening, the defense was not able to lean towards one side, but worry about both.  Funny comment about Duff too by one of the announcers, who said “looks like someone has given Duff some extra strength batteries, he’s all over the pitch.”

♣ Hopefully Doyle isn’t hurt too bad or out for too long.  He went off in the 15th or 16th minute, on what looked like a knee or ankle injury.  I didn’t see it, but heard the announcers saying that he landed awkwardly on his left leg on one of the corners, tried to run it off, but was unable to.  At least we don’t have to worry about our backup strikers, as Shane Long and Walters are both great to have off the bench.

♣ Kaptain Keane scores again!!  A free kick just outside the box was thumped in by Gibson, after McGeady faked as though he was going to take it.  Due to the thunderous shot the goaltender (who either has brick hands or pre game jitters in the 20th minute) was unable to handle he shot, which bounced off his hands and rolled out in front of him.  Who else was there, but Mr. Robbie Keane who tucked it away for the goal and a 2-0 lead.

♣Our passing game WAS ON!  Wow… we forgot about long balls, and in doing so we looked great on the pitch.  If you can watch the game, try to watch around the 23rd or 24th minute.  In that time period Ireland strung together pass after pass after pass, and even threw in a meg through a Macedonia defender’s wickets.  The long balls were better when we didn’t have a strong midfield to work with, and just tried over and over again to get the ball to Keane.  But now, we have a strong midfield and can get things done through it.  Gibson and Whelan were terrific in the passing game, and mixed in well with our splendid wingers.

♣ We did let up slightly after 30 minutes of playing, as Macedonia has started to get further and further into our side of the pitch.  Even though we had more control of the ball for the first half, we did slow down the pace of the game, which I think was more beneficial to Macedonia.  We were running around them and scoring goals, creating pressure, and making chances.  The, we let up, didn’t make as many runs, and were ultimately punished by doing that.  Macedonia scored right before the end of the half, as Dunne’s match fitness was tested, and let’s just say he has some work to do.

♣ Shane Long is one tough dude.  A Macedonian defender thought it would be smart to try and kick Long in the side of the head, and somehow only get a yellow card for that.  Think about De Jong’s tackle in the World Cup on Alsonso, except the face.  And Long got up, and in a very angry mood.

♣ Macedonia looked more threatening and started to test our defense a lot more in the second half, just as they were for the ten minutes prior to the halftime break.  The fans started to get on the players’ backs for misplaced passes and the change in momentum, with sighs and boos coming after some lacking passes and exchanges.

♣ But then McGeady and Duff got the fans cheering again with our closest chance of the second half.  McGeady made a few runs to the Macedonian defense, and after gathering a blocked shot, ran down the side of the box and crossed it into Duff.  Duff took it off the bounce and shot it across the face of the goal, only to miss by a few inches.  This chance started to wake up the Irish attack a little more, with a few half chances here and there.

♣ Westwood saved us from having to go home with only a point.  1 on 1 with the Macedonian goal scorer and came up big in blocking the shot and saving the day.  We deserved all 3 points, but did almost blow it.  We can’t sit back after 30 minutes of playing when there’s still 2/3rds of the game left to play.  Westwood stepped up and looks like a quality backup to Given and the future goalie once Shay retires.  WESTWOOD WAS CLUTCH!!

♣ Should of been two Macedonian players sent off, but weren’t.  The ref was decent but definitely missed some big calls.  First call was when Long got kicked in the head, which should have been a straight red.  Also, Long pulls a move past a defender, who is on a yellow, who then pulls down Long and makes it seem like he’s injured.  Should have been a second yellow, but due to a “head injury” the ref let the defender go. Bull Shit.

♣ Ireland looked great in the closing minutes, with a few close chances just missing a finishing touch.  Also great to see McCarthy get some time on the pitch, and to come on in the last few minutes to a roaring ovation must be nice too.  Another young blood looking to make an impact in the squad sooner rather than later.  Looked good on the pitch, looked strong on the ball and in some tackles, and even had a shot that was blocked.

HIGHLIGHTS:

♣From what I hear, Coleman has an injured ankle from the game this past weekend against Fulham.  The physios took a look at him and after a few days in Ireland, deemed him not fit enough to play in the two upcoming games, so he’s off the roster.  Duff also had an Achilles problem and sat out both Tuesday and Wednesday’s training, but did train with the team today, which is a good sign.

♣Dunne is expected to be fit after remaining with Aston Villa, where his shoulder was found to be okay.  I believe he trained with the squad today, so that’s a good sign, especially since we are going to be without O’Shea and possibly Sean St. Ledger as well.  This should open up a spot and the central part of our defense may be exploited depending on how Dunne’s shoulder is feeling when trying to win a ball.

♣Leon Best is also due to miss the game as he still has the same injury that kept him out of the Newcastle game.  At least we have Doyle, Keane, Long, and Walters for strikers, so we should be okay there.

♣Gibson is another added onto the list of players with knocks, but I believe he will be okay.

♣Onto some news that isn’t an injured body part, Trapattoni has said that another Irish youngling, this time James McCarthy, will make an appearance of some sort in the games ahead.  For more information on that, you can click here.  I like this as there are more and more Irishmen who are in their high teens and early twenties coming out and playing well for their clubs and now hoping to get their names onto the Irish National team.  We’ve had Long, Walters, Coleman, Clark, and now McCarthy coming up from playing good club ball and starting to get their names called on Trapp’s teams.  Let’s hope this young influx continues!!

Our opponent for the upcoming qualifier is FYR Macedonia.  Not exactly the best of histories with them, as they essentially knocked us out of  a top spot in our group for the EURO 2000 qualifiers.  We needed a win, but a tie to them led to a loss on the away goals rule against Turkey, knocking us out of the tournament.  Let’s get them back this time, and QUALIFY FOR THE EURO 2012!!!!!!!!