Sport

Ireland won't be intimidated by Belgium insists Roy Keane

Republic of Ireland goalkeeping coach Seamus McDonagh is left on his backside by Roy Keane as kitman Mick Lawler looks on during Thursday's training session at the Stade de Montbauron in Versailles. Picture by AP 
Republic of Ireland goalkeeping coach Seamus McDonagh is left on his backside by Roy Keane as kitman Mick Lawler looks on during Thursday's training session at the Stade de Montbauron in Versailles. Picture by AP  Republic of Ireland goalkeeping coach Seamus McDonagh is left on his backside by Roy Keane as kitman Mick Lawler looks on during Thursday's training session at the Stade de Montbauron in Versailles. Picture by AP 

THERE’LL be no fear factor for the Republic of Ireland against Belgium in Bordeaux on Saturday says assistant-manager Roy Keane.

Speaking after training in Versailles on Thursday, Keane bristled at the suggestion that Ireland’s players might be intimidated by Belgium’s lofty Fifa ranking - they are second in the world behind Argentina.

“When you walk onto the pitch you don’t think in terms of rankings, you just think of your own performance,” said Keane.

“We believe if we can play well there’s a good chance we can get a result, if we’re not at it there’s a good chance we’ll get beaten. I think I said exactly the same last week. Rankings? Trust me, over the next day or two we won’t be talking about rankings. There won’t be any fear factor. It’s our job to make sure there’s not.”

As expected, Jon Walters missed training on Thursday, the Stoke City striker won’t feature against the Red Devils, but could return for the final group game against Italy. Third-choice goalkeeper Kieran Westwood also sat out the session with a back complaint.

Like Keane, Belgium skipper Eden Hazard is a former PFA Players' Player of the Year. The Chelsea star was in indifferent form at club level last season, but Keane says Ireland “have to keep an eye on him”.

“You’ve got to be careful because I don’t know what’s going on at club level with the guy, but he’s a talented boy,” he said.

“It does happen, players have dips in form. But he’s still an absolutely dangerous player and he showed a bit of better form before the end of the season for Chelsea. We’ll have to keep an eye on him.

“If he’s getting the ball off their goalkeeper then we’re probably not too worried. But if Hazard’s getting it 30-40 yards from goal…the Italians defended pretty well the other day and we’ll have to defend as well. He’s a quality player. I think ye all know that whatever the criticism the guy’s had. He’d have a chance of getting in our team, I think. He’s a talented boy.”

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While the Republic impressed for the majority of their 1-1 draw with Sweden, Belgium looked under-cooked against Italy and lost 2-0. Since then pressure has mounted on manager Marc Wilmots.

“If you don’t get anything from your first match, the pressure follows on,” said Keane.

“But obviously that’s where their manager has to trust the quality he’s got. We can’t spend time worrying about the Belgian camp, we’ve got to look after ourselves Obviously, there will be a change because of the fact we’ve got a player injured.

“So we’ve enough on our plate without worrying about what Belgium are doing or getting bogged down about how the Italians played. Because the Italians played a lot different to the way we’ll probably play against Belgium.”

Keane rejected the suggestion that any of Ireland’s players would be heavy-legged on Saturday for the showdown with Belgium at Stade Bordeaux: “I think we’ll be okay,” he said.

“There were a lot of things going into the game - massive build up, you could say six months of build up - lads who haven’t played for a while. It’s the same for all the countries, don’t get me wrong, but particularly for us we’d a lot of lads who hadn’t played for a long time, we were coming off the back of a few injuries the last few weeks. So I think the game will do us the world of good. It’ll be the same for Belgium.

“Once you’ve got that game under your belt, ask any player, I think mentally when you’ve not played for four, five, six weeks, obviously a few of the lads didn’t play against Belarus, we had the one warm-up game against Holland, but even at club level they haven’t played for five, six weeks, it’s nice to get that proper, competitive match under your belt.

“And I think we’ll be better for it. I’m not going the other way thinking we’ll be more tired. If anything, I think we’ll be sharper and better, but the same goes for Belgium.”