Keane given time but looks big doubt

SOCCER:WHEN UEFA'S general secretary Gianni Infantino revealed last week that the gaps between international games are to be shortened to just two rest days in order to enable the organisation to stagger schedules and so sell more games to television, there were those with reservations about the ability of players to cope with the strain.

As they resumed full training at Malahide yesterday members of the Republic of Ireland squad, though, might have been forgiven for feeling things could hardly be that much worse under the new arrangements.

The problem of getting players who are often already tired due to the demands of their clubs’ schedule through international doubles headers is, of course, a universal one and Armenia’s coach Vardan Minasyan acknowledged after his side’s defeat of Macedonia on Friday night that “help the players to regain their strength before the match against Ireland” would be a priority.

The Irish cause, though, was not helped by delays to an overnight journey home from Andorra that was never going to be easy. Problems arose in relation to the weight of the baggage being put onto the flight in Barcelona in the early hours of Saturday morning and the players were obliged to sit on a plane that contained no first-class seats for just short of an hour before a decision was taken to leave three skips behind.

Overall, their journey was delayed by an hour and a quarter resulting in a 6.45am arrival into Dublin airport. By mid-afternoon those players who hadn’t started on Friday night were out in Tallaght for an open training session where, with the stadium management conscious perhaps of the potential for fatigue to be a problem, they and Giovanni Trapattoni were provided with an early shower courtesy of the pitch’s sprinkler system.

Afterwards, the Italian, who had apparently himself selected the schedule for the return to Ireland from a range of options that included staying over and travelling back the next day, admitted that the arrangements “could have been better”.

Whether any of it has contributed to the aggravation of a gluteal muscle problem that seems increasingly likely to keep Robbie Keane out of tomorrow’s decisive encounter with Armenia is open to debate but it won’t have helped the Irish skipper who didn’t train yesterday and isn’t expected to today. He will, however, be given every opportunity to recover before a final call is made on whether he should be risked.

“Robbie had the little problem in the leg before the Andorra game and afterwards it was worse so he had a scan yesterday,” confirmed assistant coach Marco Tardelli after yesterday morning’s session which Darren O’Dea also sat out with what is said to be a far less serious knee problem. “The scan showed blood at the back of the leg, it’s a problem and while we are hopeful he will recover, it’s difficult. We will wait because he deserves it. We will wait but it will be very difficult,” added Tardelli

With Trapattoni already obliged to make a change at the back due to Stephen Ward’s suspension, the loss of the team’s leading scorer for the first time in this campaign would be a very significant blow to the Italian who will have to choose a replacement from Shane Long, Simon Cox and Jonathan Walters.

Long said last week he is confident he and former Reading team-mate Kevin Doyle could work well together at this level, but Trapattoni took a liking to Cox before the summer when he started him in Macedonia while Walters’ pace and energy might well have seen him in pole position had he featured more often. The Stoke striker last featured in an Ireland shirt against Wales in February.

“We have many (players to choose from), said Tardelli, “Walters, Long, Cox, many options and we have confidence in all of them but training today was very soft and so tomorrow we can see everything.”

It will be a key decision with Armenia, described by Slovakia boss Vladimir Weiss even before his side was well beaten by them at home recently, as the team that played the best football in this group, having scored 11 goals in their last three games.

There is no doubt they have the capacity to cause Ireland problems even if they have a tendency to concede.

Tardelli agreed that having improved a good deal during the year since Ireland were fortunate to win a very open game in Yerevan, they will be a major threat tomorrow night but he is careful to stress the upside too.

“On DVD, we have seen every match of Armenia. We know they are strong, physical and fast so it will be a tough match. They are better in midfield and attack.

“Maybe in defence they make some mistakes.”