The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Keane out of Ireland’s Euro 2012 decider against Armenia

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 08:49 AM PDT

DUBLIN, Oct 10 – Ireland's captain and leading scorer Robbie Keane has been ruled out of the deciding Euro 2012 qualifier against Armenia today because of an abductor muscle problem.

Keane, 31 (picture), played the full 90 minutes in Friday's 2-0 win in Andorra but complained of soreness in his abductor muscle during the early hours of Saturday.

Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni said after Saturday's training session that the Los Angeles Galaxy striker was a "strong doubt" for the game in Dublin and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) confirmed today he would miss the match.

"Robbie Keane was released from the squad on Sunday morning due to injury and is devastated to miss Armenia. He will be there tomorrow to support the lads," an FAI spokesman said.

Simon Cox will replace Keane in attack with Stephen Kelly and Richard Dunne coming back into the side. They will replace Stephen Ward, who is suspended, and Darren O'Dea.

Ireland go into the Group B game in second place behind Russia. They can either win the group, finish second, or, if they lose to Armenia, be eliminated with the visitors instead making the playoffs as runners-up.

Striker Jonathan Walters meanwhile has joined up with the squad after an ankle injury forced him to miss the Andorra match.

Trapattoni named the following side to face Armenia:

Shay Given; John O'Shea, Richard Dunne, Sean St Ledger, Stephen Kelly; Damien Duff, Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews, Aiden McGeady; Kevin Doyle, Simon Cox. – Reuters

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Japan goal machine Okazaki ‘starving’ for goals

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 06:35 AM PDT

OSAKA, Oct 10 – Japan striker Shinji Okazaki promised to lift the gloom following a string of poor displays by his side in tomorrow's home World Cup qualifier against Tajikistan.

The pint-sized VfB Stuttgart player said he had recovered from a knee problem and would be back amongst the goals as the Blue Samurai look to take a firm grip on Group C.

"I score goals for a living," Okazaki (picture), who has scored seven goals in five matches under coach Alberto Zaccheroni, told Japanese media today.

"I'm starving for goals but it's all about the team. I'm just a forward. Scoring goals is my job."

Japan disappointed in last Friday's 1-0 friendly win over Vietnam, but Zaccheroni dismissed talk of a crisis in front of goal.

"Yes we have only scored three goals in our last three matches," the Italian told a news conference on the eve of the clash with Tajikistan in Osaka.

"But we're ready. We made a lot of chances against North Korea and we had our chances against Uzbekistan too. It's not as if we have not been scoring in my 15 games as coach."

Unbeaten since Zaccheroni took charge last October, Japan have made life difficult for themselves in their opening two games in the third round of Asian 2014 qualifiers.

A stoppage-time win over North Korea at home was followed last month by a desperately poor performance in a 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan in Tashkent.

Japan's Inter Milan defender Yuto Nagatomo warned that Tajikistan could prove dangerous opponents.

"They are hanging on for dear life in the group so we have to be wary," he said. "We need an early goal so they come at us and we get more space to play."

In his eagerness not to trigger a backlash from the Japanese, Tajikistan coach Alimzhon Rafikov almost wrote off his team's chances of producing an upset.

"We are not kidding ourselves about how difficult it will be," he said. "We might only have a 1,000-1 chance of winning but we want to give a good account of ourselves."

Japan and Uzbekistan both have four points in Group C with North Korea on three. Tajikistan have lost both their matches. – Reuters

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Isnin, 10 Oktober 2011

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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