CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy may be in the midst of a two week break from MLS play, but there will be no rest for forward Robbie Keane, who has joined up with Ireland for World Cup qualifying.
Keane and the Irish will begin their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday against Kazakhstan as part of a two match stint hat includes a friendly against Oman in London that the Galaxy forward will not take part of. The Irish face quite the challenge as they are drawn into Group C against Germany, Christian Wilhelmsson’s Sweden, Austria, Faroe Islands and the Kazakhs. The top team from each of the eight groups will qualify automatically while the runners-up take part in a two-leg playoff match.
Below are Keane’s thoughts about Ireland’s World Cup qualifiers….
KEANE: “I’m looking forward to seeing the lads again. We’ve got a long trip to Kazakhstan and obviously, I don’t know too much about them, but I look forward to seeing the guys again and hopefully start to getting back to winning ways with them.”
(On rebounding as a nation from a challenging European Championship…)
KEANE: “I think that as a nation, it’s important that we qualify for every tournament. That needs to start now; we sort of qualify for one and then miss out for ten years or so. That’s not good enough; we need to [qualify] every two years or every four years. It’s important for our nation that we qualify for these tournaments.”
(On the squad’s depth…)
KEANE: “It’s pretty much the same squad that we have. There aren’t many players that have come in, obviously, Shay Given and Damian Duff have retired so, but there was already players in the squad anyway that would take their place so there is not really a big change from a few months.”
(On whether he is in better fitness than his teammates who just started their season..)
KEANE: “Yeah, obviously, their season has just started a couple weeks ago. I’ve played a lot of games and whether that’s good or bad, I’m not sure.”
