ROY KEANE doesn’t get caught up in peripheral issues like injuries, suspensions or the opposition - he prefers to deal in the here and now.
The Republic may be minus Jon Walters, Shay Given, John O’Shea and maybe Shane Long too, but Keane says that if the players available perform then Ireland will make it to the Euro 2016 finals next summer. If they don’t, they won’t. Still, the Republic of Ireland assistant manager admits that this weekend’s play-off double-header is “a hard one to call”.
“The form Bosnia have been in in the last three or four games, I’ve been hugely impressed with them,” he said.
“Obviously they’ve got players playing at a high level at club level, in terms of Champions League and they showed a good attitude in one or two of the games I’ve seen where they’ve gone behind and scored at vital times. They’ve got some really good players but so have we.
“If you’re a punter and on the outside looking in… I think it’s a hard one to call, I really do. But we’ll get everything we have and see where that takes us, focus on the performance. We’ve had the usual rollercoaster ride from the last trip.
“The highs of the Germany game and the disappointment of Poland and even the last time when we got together, we had all the scenarios going on, if this happens and this happens, you might be seeded, you might not be… This is pretty straightforward.
“We’re certainly going to try and put on some good performances and see it where it takes us – there’s no indecision, you either qualify or you don’t. At least when the draw was made it was like ‘bang, let’s focus on Bosnia, let’s focus on the players who are here in the last day or two’.”
Bosnia have the experience of playing at the last World Cup behind them and go into this weekend’s game on the back of four wins from their last five group games which pushed them into the play-off slots after a poor start to their qualifying campaign. Keane says there is plenty of experience in the Republic ranks too and expects his players to cope with the partisan atmosphere in Zenica on Friday night.
“As much as you say there’s a lot of players who haven’t been involved in this [a play-off], there’s plenty of experience in the group,” said the former Republic of Ireland skipper.
“So it’s how you manage that, of course. An away goal would be fantastic, obviously, two goals would be brilliant, three, you know... obviously we’ll monitor that as we go along but your mindset has to be as any footballer going into a game or any sportsperson is to go out to win.
“Now that might change during the course of the game, you might be one up or one down and there’s 10 minutes to go, let’s shut up shop, whatever it might be – you might have a player sent off, they might have a player sent off, you manage the game and that’s where the experience comes in from the players. But any time you walk out to play a game of football, no matter who you are, is to win. But obviously then how the game goes dictates that mindset.”
Keane rejected the notion that closing down Roma playmaker Miralem Pjanic would be the key to winning for Ireland: “He’s a big player for them, yeah, but they’ve some other big players,” he said.
“Technically, they’ve some very good players, they’re playing at a very high level in the Champions League, scoring in the Champions League. I’ve been really impressed with them. But every time I do the media before international matches I say the same thing, they’ve got some good players, but so have we.”
