Giovanni Trapattoni names unchanged team
Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has named an unchanged team for their European Championship qualifier with Russia tomorrow.
The manager has decided to stick with the same team that played against Andorra in the 3-1 win at the Aviva Stadium.
It was expected that Damien Duff and Keith Andrews would have returned to the first 11, but the two players will not feature after they picked up injuries earlier this week.
Derby County’s Paul Green will continue in place of Andrews while Aiden McGeady will play on the left in place of Duff.
McGeady has been in fantastic form for club and country and has already scored his first goal with his new club Spartak Moscow.
Green’s place was the least secure in the midfield. Darren Gibson will feel aggrieved that he was not picked, especially after Green struggled in the match with Armenia in Ireland’s first game.
Trapattoni was given a boost as Richard Dunne trained and the Aston Villa defender will play against the Russians.
Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle will start again up front and Glenn Whelan and Liam Lawrence will join McGeady and Green in the midfield.
The back four of John O’Shea, Kevin Kilbane, Sean St Ledger and Richard Dunne will play in front of Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given.
Russia also have injury problems with Roman Pavluchenko out of the Russian team. Alexander Kerzhakov will also be a doubt for the Russians, which will leave them with few options up front and Andrey Arshavin may play further forward as a result.
Ireland have started the group well and have beaten Armenia 1-0 away before they beat Andorra 3-1 at home.
Trapattoni’s team lead the group on goal difference from Slovakia with Russia behind in third place. The Irish team will hope that they can add another three points by beating Russia tomorrow.
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