Ireland captain Robbie Keane has been passed fit for the Euro 2012 qualifier with Macedonia and will start alongside Simon Cox up front.
There had been a major doubt over Keane’s participation in Skopje after he picked up a groin injury in training, but Giovanni Trapattoni is obviously prepared to take a risk on the 49-goal striker. Trapattoni will be forced into a change, however, if Keane doesn’t come through a fitness test in training this evening.
The only downside to Keane’s recovery, of course, is that it prevents the hilarious sounding Long-Cox partnership from starting in attack.
Elsewhere, the team will line out as it did in a training match yesterday with Shay Given behind a back four of Stephen Kelly, Darren O’Dea, John O’Shea and Kevin Kilbane, with Aiden McGeady, Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews and Stephen Hunt in midfield.
The situation at the top of Group B is arse-clenchingly tight at present, with Ireland, Russia and Slovakia all tied on ten points.
With a trip to Russia still to come, three points in Skopje tomorrow night are vital if the boys in green are to maintain realistic hopes of qualifying for the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine next summer.
Ireland: Given, Kelly, O’Dea, O’Shea, Kilbane; McGeady, Whelan, Andrews, Hunt; Keane, Cox
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