Keane's got that hunger back

SOCCER INTERNATIONAL MATCHES Republic of Ireland v Paraguay:IF SELF-BELIEF could really be isolated, purified and then supplied by the syringe-full, there probably wouldn't be a footballer over 20 who wouldn't be tempted at one stage or another to run the gauntlet of the testers.

Giovanni Trapattoni certainly knows what a precious commodity it is, evidenced again yesterday as he repeatedly talked up the Republic of Ireland’s performances against the likes of Italy, France and Brazil before naming as many of the players who featured in those games as possible for this evening’s decidedly low-key friendly against Paraguay.

Beside him, at the pre-match press conference in Malahide, Robbie Keane acknowledged with slightly surprising bluntness the key role confidence can play in a top level career, suggesting his recent sojourn in Scotland had primarily been about rebuilding his.

Mission accomplished, he insisted, saying he will be back battling for his place at White Hart Lane against next season.

With Shane Duffy still recovering at the Mater hospital – where his progress is said to be such he is still well on course to be discharged at the end of the week – perspective is in plentiful supply around the Irish camp but in football terms, both men appreciate they will face into major challenges come the end of the summer and each knows the importance of believing their’s can be overcome.

From Trapattoni there was nothing really we hadn’t heard before, with the veteran manager insisting his side must pick up against Paraguay and Algeria where they left off against some of the world’s more illustrious names.

The manager continues to work hard to gloss over the fact his side was actually well beaten by Brazil a couple of months back and his decision to eschew experimentation in favour of naming what he clearly reckons is his strongest available line-up – he suggested the likes of Paul Green, Keith Fahey and Greg Cunningham may get run outs over the course of the night – is a clear indication he wants to maintain the momentum he is claims has been building since late last year.

Keane, needless to say, dearly hopes the Italian succeeds in his aims for the team as he is running out of chances to play at another major championship.

His rather more immediate problem, however, is to re-establish himself back at a club that essentially qualified for the Champions League last season without him.

The success achieved during his absence has clearly generated some doubt about his future and it prompted a line of questioning yesterday that centred heavily on his fallback plans in the event that things don’t work out.

Keane, patiently and politely, however, insisted he is not countenancing such an outcome.

“I’ve got to report back on the 5th of July for pre-season training,” he said, “and unless somebody tells me something different, I’m a Tottenham player.”

The spell at Scotland, he said, was ultimately about recharging batteries that had been drained by the manner in which his time at Anfield had ended.

“I was in a bit of rut at Liverpool (and then) going back to Tottenham,” he said. “I did well going back first and at start of season but I didn’t have that hunger and maybe I needed to go away to get it back.

“There was maybe a lack of confidence, because of going from Liverpool and back to Tottenham. As a player you sometimes lose confidence. I lost confidence as a player. So maybe going to Celtic is the best thing that happened to me. I wanted to play games.

“As a kid, you don’t dream of playing bits and bobs of games. Playing games is where you get your sharpness and fitness. You train and want to play every game. So I enjoyed my time at Celtic, I’ve got that hunger I had before and now it’s up to me to go back there and get myself back in the team.”

Keane admitted shortly after arriving at the London club back in 2002 he needed to have a sustained spell at one team after so much travelling and even he seemed to be having trouble keep of all his stopping-off points yesterday when asked whether he had been rooting for “his former club” over the weekend.

It was a reference to Inter Milan in the Champions League but the Dubliner looked baffled for a moment before the penny dropped. “Who’s that?” he asked in bewilderment before adding: “I thought you were on about Crumlin or something,” he added.

Jose Mourinho, he said, is a “genius”, and one, it seems, whose success the 29-year-old might try his hand at emulating in future years with the Irish skipper admitting he will most likely took to go into management when his playing days are over.

“Yeah, I think I’ll take my badges in a few years,” he said. “Not yet, I want to concentrate on playing but I’m a football person, I want to be involved in football. I wouldn’t really know what else to be involved in, to be honest.”

Before that, or even Tottenham, though, there is Paraguay to be negotiated. Gerard Martino’s side may not be as glamorous as star- studded South American rivals Brazil and Argentina, but they beat both at home during the qualifying stages for next month’s World Cup and arrive here fresh from a win over North Korea in Switzerland.

Their top scorer from qualifying, Salvador Cabanas, is sidelined these days with a bullet lodged in his head since being shot in a Mexico bar back in January but Martino has recruited Argentinian-born striker Lucas Barrios, whose 18 Bundesliga goals for Borussia Dortmund comfortably overshadowed Roque Santa Cruz’s haul during a difficult first season at Manchester City.

Cruz, nevertheless, is just one of many players to bring quality to a side that also possesses a collective work ethic and, nurturing ambitions for the sort of run they managed at France ’98 where they came within a whisker of putting the hosts and eventual champions out in the early knock-out stages, they are likely to prove difficult opponents this evening.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Westwood (Coventry City); Kelly (Fulham), McShane (Hull City), St Ledger (Preston North End), O'Shea (Manchester United); Lawrence (Stoke City), Andrews (Blackburn Rovers), Whelan (Stoke City), Duff (Fulham); Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Doyle (Wolves).

PARAGUAY(possible): Barreto; M Caceres, JC Caceres, Da Silva; Torres, Vera, Bonet, Ledesma, Estigarribia; Santa Cruz, Barrios.