Green And McClean Join Boys In Green

It was a move many criticised when Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni opted not to select James McClean in his squad for the upcoming friendly with the Czech Republic, but now it seems Trap has had a rethink and has included the Sunderland mid-fielder and also Derby County mid-fielder Paul Green.

When originally announcing the squad Trap spoke about how important it was to select the players that secured qualification for the European Championships this summer but had insisted McClean was part of his FUTURE plans, most presumed he was talking about the beginning of the world cup qualifiers in September.

McClean has been a shinning light since moving from Derry City where he was already a great player to the Stadium of Light shortly after Martin O’Neill took over as manager, He also recently secured his clearance from FIFA to declare for the Republic instead of Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland.

Martin O’Neill reacted quite angrily to Traps decision originally not to call him up saying he has proven he deserved a call up. Since signing for the ‘Blackcats’ he has played 10 times and scored 3 goals.

With Green’s call-up today, he could be in line to make his tenth appearance for Ireland. He recently spoke about his determination to get back into the Irish squad through good performances for Derby, despite having just five months left on his club contract. “It is a little bit of a difficult situation when you’re a bit insecure about your future,” he told the Derby Evening Telegraph.

“But I’m a Derby County player and I’ll always play my heart out for them. Then we’ll see what happens at the end of the season. Hopefully, we can get something sorted because I’d love to stay and my family are settled here. But this is football and, sometimes, you have to move on.

Daniel "Pitchside" Pitcher Twitter: @DanFM104Sport About: Dan "Pitchside" Pitcher provides insight and commentary as the chief soccer and rugby correspondent for Sportspeak.