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Shay Given & Kevin Doyle lavish praise on Republic of Ireland skipper Robbie Keane
Spurs forward to make 100th international appearance on Wednesday...
10 Aug 2010 08:59:00
By Adithya Ananth
Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given and striker Kevin Doyle have showered praise on their captain Robbie Keane, as the Tottenham Hotspur hitman prepares to be handed a monumental 100th cap for the national team.
The former Liverpool forward will be only the fourth player in the country's history to make 100 appearances for the national team, and will also have the honour of leading the team out against Argentina in their new home that is the 50,000 capacity Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
For all his appearances, Keane also holds the record for being the country's top scorer of all time with a healthy 43 goals against his name.
"It's a great achievement to get to 100 caps, especially with the occasion of the new stadium as well, it's history in the making," Given told the press.
"With it not being a competitive game, it's also great for Robbie as he can enjoy it more.
"But looking back, he's been huge to Ireland over the years, with a goalscoring record at international level that stands alongside some of the best players in the world.
"Sometimes we forget that and underestimate how important Robbie is to the team."
Meanwhile, Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Doyle believes that his international partner in crime should be spoken about in the same breath as other legends such as Liam Brady, Johnny Giles and Paul McGrath.
"He's won more caps, scored more goals, he's captain, has played and scored in World Cup finals, so he is ranked as high as those," he said. "Anyone who gets 100 caps, first of all it shows how much they love football, and then there's his goalscoring record of a goal nearly every two games.
"It's a privilege to play with him. In fact, I'm lucky to be able to play with him.
"He is someone I can learn from, to see how he prepares, how he looks after himself, how he gets into his positions to score goals.
"He's only 30 as well, so he has the chance to win plenty more caps and score plenty more goals too."
On a personal level, City shot-stopper Given turned the attention onto his club career, expressing happiness that he has now recovered from a shoulder injury sustained during the final few laps of last season.
"I was disappointed to miss out on the last three games," he added.
| Bet: | Returns: | Hungary £26.00 | Draw £32.00 | Ireland £25.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Hungary £29.00 | Draw £32.00 | Ireland £25.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Hungary £27.50 | Draw £32.50 | Ireland £25.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Hungary £29.00 | Draw £33.00 | Ireland £24.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Hungary £28.50 | Draw £31.00 | Ireland £23.50 |
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The former Liverpool forward will be only the fourth player in the country's history to make 100 appearances for the national team, and will also have the honour of leading the team out against Argentina in their new home that is the 50,000 capacity Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
For all his appearances, Keane also holds the record for being the country's top scorer of all time with a healthy 43 goals against his name.
"It's a great achievement to get to 100 caps, especially with the occasion of the new stadium as well, it's history in the making," Given told the press.
"With it not being a competitive game, it's also great for Robbie as he can enjoy it more.
"But looking back, he's been huge to Ireland over the years, with a goalscoring record at international level that stands alongside some of the best players in the world.
"Sometimes we forget that and underestimate how important Robbie is to the team."
Meanwhile, Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Doyle believes that his international partner in crime should be spoken about in the same breath as other legends such as Liam Brady, Johnny Giles and Paul McGrath.
"He's won more caps, scored more goals, he's captain, has played and scored in World Cup finals, so he is ranked as high as those," he said. "Anyone who gets 100 caps, first of all it shows how much they love football, and then there's his goalscoring record of a goal nearly every two games.
"It's a privilege to play with him. In fact, I'm lucky to be able to play with him.
"He is someone I can learn from, to see how he prepares, how he looks after himself, how he gets into his positions to score goals.
"He's only 30 as well, so he has the chance to win plenty more caps and score plenty more goals too."
On a personal level, City shot-stopper Given turned the attention onto his club career, expressing happiness that he has now recovered from a shoulder injury sustained during the final few laps of last season.
"I was disappointed to miss out on the last three games," he added.
"But these things happen. If there was a good time to have it I suppose it was then because there was only a week to go in the season and I had all summer to recover.
"To be honest I've worked pretty hard all summer, and I'm delighted to be fit for the new season."
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 2-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
19:32 BST
We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
19:24 BST
No, no, no. I'll have none of that Emile Heskey shouting anymore! Hello, it's me, it's me, it's that D-O-Y-L-E. Yes, I'm Joe Doyle, and I'll be here for all the reaction to that England game. First things first, how did everyone see that game? Good performance? A touch boring? Let me know on Twitter.
19:17 BST
Right, that’s me, Danny Hart, done. Joe Doyle is itching to retain his LIVE! crown for the evening. England reaction, Netherlands-Northern Ireland updates and much, much more - Doyle will be across it all. England are gonna win the Euros! And remember: EMILE HESKEY. Cheerio!
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