Shane Long crocked? Giovanni Trapattoni either doesn’t think so or doesn’t know, because he’s included him in his squad for next month’s Euro 2012 play-offs against Estonia.
Long was sent into orbit by Alan Hutton’s recklessness last Saturday, although the challenge – which left him with severe bone bruising and a small chip to the bone inside his knee and prompted reams of abuse towards Hutton on YouTube – did not even earn the West Brom man a free kick.
Scans showed enough damage to keep him on the sidelines for six weeks – his club manager Roy Hodgson admits he feared it may have been much longer – but that timeframe has still not been enough to persuade Trap from leaving him out of his squad for the double-header on November 11 and 15.
As expected, Robbie Keane has also been included as he continues his rehabilitation from the injury which ruled him out of the play-off-sealing win over Armenia a fortnight ago.
With Long all but ruled out, doubts over Keane and Kevin Doyle definitely unavailable for the first leg through suspension, we might have expected Trap to add some new armoury in attack.
But typically, Trap has steadfastly refused to play ball, with Leon Best still overlooked despite his and Newcastle’s good form in the Premier League and Anthony Stokes’s pleas for another chance falling on deaf Italian ears.
Ireland squad (v Estonia, November 11-15):
Goalkeepers: Shay Given, Keiren Westwood, David Forde.
Defenders: John O’Shea, Stephen Kelly, Stephen Ward, Richard Dunne, Sean St Ledger, Darren O’Dea, Paul McShane.
Midfielders: Glenn Whelan, James McCarthy, Seamus Coleman, Keith Andrews, Keith Fahey, Darron Gibson, Andy Keogh, Damien Duff, Aiden McGeady, Stephen Hunt, Liam Lawrence.
Forwards: Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, Jonathan Walters, Simon Cox.
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