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Keane expected back tomorrow

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By press time, Roy Keane remained on target to make his international return against the Romanians after missing the goalless tie with Poland last month through injury.
Irish manager Brian Kerr last week named four uncapped players in his squad for the friendlies. They are Stoke City defender Clive Clarke, midfielders Martin Rowlands of Queens Park Rangers and Michael Doyle (Coventry City), and Celtic striker Aidan McGeady.
The rest of the Irish contingent are goalkeepers Shay Given (Newcastle United), Nick Colgan (Hibernian), and Paddy Kenny (Sheffield United). Defenders Alan Maybury (Hearts), Steve Finnan (Liverpool), Kenny Cunningham (Birmingham City), Andy O’Brien (Newcastle United), Gary Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur), Gary Breen (Sunderland), Matt Holland (Charlton Athletic), Jonathan Douglas (Blackburn), and John O’Shea (Manchester United); midfielders Liam Miller (Celtic), Andy Reid (Nottingham Forest), Mark Kennedy (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Michael Doyle (Coventry City), Steven Reid (Blackburn Rovers), Alan Quinn (Sheffield Wednesday), Rory Delap (Southampton), Stephen McPhail (Leeds United), Mark Kinsella (West Bromwich Albion), and Jason McAteer (Sunderland), and forwards Graham Barrett (Coventry City), Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Alan Lee (Cardiff City), David Connolly (West Ham), and Clinton Morrison (Birmingham City).

NIGERIA WITHDRAWALS
Nigeria’s “Super Eagles” have been hit by a spate of withdrawals ahead of their match with Ireland in London this Saturday.
The Nigerian authorities are, however, hoping that Charlton Athletic’s Carlton Cole and Inter Milan ace Obafemi Martins, two of soccer’s most promising young strikers, will answer the call from their homeland and line up against the Republic.
Cole, whose father is Nigerian, was capped for England at Under-21 level, but under eligibility rules effected by FIFA last January, players with dual nationalities capped by one country at junior level can play for another as seniors.
Martins, meanwhile, has spurned previous invitations to play for the Eagles. The Nigerian FA hopes that he will have a change of heart. The powerful 19-year-old hails from a region of Nigeria bordering Cameroon, who are also reported to be courting his services.
Arsenal’s Nkwankwo Kanu, Portsmouth dangerman Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Everton sweeper Joseph Yobo, the acrobatic Julius Aghahowa (Shaktar Donetsk, Ukraine), who celebrates goals with a series of back flips, and Belgium-based forward Tosin Dosunmu are among the players that have pulled out of the Nigerian squad.
The former African champions beat Ireland 2-1 in Dublin in their last meeting, on the eve of the 2002 World Cup finals.

WEST INDIAN TOUR
Northern Ireland begin a three-match soccer tour of the Caribbean this weekend that should buff their record going into the 2006 World Cup qualifiers starting in September.
First stop for Lawrie Sanchez’s squad is Bridgetown, where they test the might of lowly Barbados at the Kensington Oval on Sunday.
Then it’s a short hop to St. Kitts and Nevis, a popular tourist destination with a population of some 47,000, for a run against the Islands’ national side next Wednesday, June 2, at the Warner Park Stadium in Basseterre.
The North’s final and potentially hardest match should come against West Indian powerhouse Trinidad and Tobago at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago, on June 6.
Nonentities as the opposition may be on the international level, Sanchez, who in three matches since replacing Sammy McIlroy as boss has ended both the North’s lengthy scoring drought and winless streak, is taking his full squad on the tour.
Sanchez’s traveling party, posted on the Irish Football Association Web site, comprises goalkeepers Maik Taylor (Birmingham City), and Michael Ingham (Sunderland); defenders Chris Baird (Southampton), Colin Murdock (Hibernian, Stephen Craigan (Motherwell), Mark Williams (Wimbledon), and Tony Capaldi (Plymouth Argyle); midfielders Keith Gillespie (Leicester City), Stuart Elliott (Hull City), Steve Jones (Crewe Alexandra), Jeff Whitley (Sunderland), Philip Mulryne (Norwich City), Damien Johnson (Birmingham City), Danny Sonner (Nottingham Forest), and Tommy Doherty (Bristol City), and forwards David Healy (Preston North End), Andrew Smith (Glentoran), Gary Hamilton (Portadown), Paul McVeigh (Norwich City), and the Dutch-based James Quinn (Willem II).

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