Robbie Keane believes Ireland stand a chance against Russia
Robbie Keane, captain of the Republic of Ireland's national team, has backed his side to perform against Russia in Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier between the two sides.
After missing out on a spot in the 2010 World Cup courtesy of the handball by Thierry Henry that evaded the referees during the play-off game at the Stade de France, Ireland opened their qualifying campaign with two wins over Armenia and Andorra in September.
A challenging game awaits on Friday as Keane's team host Russia at the recently opened Aviva Stadium, but the Tottenham striker is confident in his team's ability.
"It's going to be a difficult game [against Russia] but the experience the players have from the last campaign will stand us in good stead," he said. "With the new stadium, everything's in place and I'm confident it's just a matter of time before we start
playing against teams like Russia and getting good performances."
Russia suffered a shock defeat to Slovakia in their second qualifying game, leaving them in third place, three points behind group leaders Ireland. On Tuesday, Ireland travel to face the Slovakians, who have also won both of their opening fixtures in the
group.
"These two games have come at the right time for us. We're feeling very confident and we're looking to get a result to set us up nicely for Tuesday's game."
Russia without Pavlyuchenko
Keane, who returned to Tottenham after spending the spring on loan at Celtic FC, recently scored his first goal of the season in a league cup tie against Arsenal.
Roman Pavlyuchenko, Keane's Russian striking partner at the club, has been left out of d**k Advocaat's team due to an ankle injury, and the Irishman said he was grateful for his teammate's exclusion.
"He doesn't play on a regular basis for [Tottenham] but it's still a big blow because I know what he's like and he's quite capable of coming off the bench and scoring goals. From that respect, obviously we're really happy he's not here."
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