Ireland’s greatest ever striker selects players from all through his career, and a few Irish legends get in
When you have played with so many great players through your career, it must be hard to narrow it down to just XI (plus subs) but for the folks at Four Four Two, Robbie Keane did just that. This team was originally published in the magazine in the summer but as they have just reposted it online, we thought it was worth bringing it to you.
The LA Galaxy man selected players from a number of his former clubs, but it was the Irish angle we were most interested in.
In goal he has gone for Shay Given, who Robbie says is so good, he won’t even pick a sub keeper.
In defence, Richard Dunne gets a call up alongside the rather unusual line up of Javier Zanetti, Ledley King and Gareth Bale. Keane says he picked Dunne because he is ‘strong, quick, unbelievable in the air’. Hard to argue.
In midfield, Roy Keane gets the nod, alongside David Beckham, Clarence Seedorf, Steven Gerrard and another Irish legend, Damien Duff. That’s a pretty tasty midfield.
Robbie says of Roy: ‘He led by example on the pitch, got the best out of other players, had great energy and could take a game by the scruff of the neck.’ As for Duffer, his old mate, Keane says: ‘Damien’s ability to jink past people created all sorts of trouble. He was fantastic.’
Up front, Robbie has gone for Dimitar Berbatov in the lone striker role, a decision that would have meant a lot of extra work for that stellar midfield if this team ever actually lined out.
No Irish make the bench but Xabi Alonso, Luka Modric, Christian Vieri, Rio Ferdinand and, eh, Aaron Lennon do.
As for his favourite boss, Gordon Strachen gets the nod, though Mick McCarthy gets an honourable mention.
