The countdown continues for tomorrow’s big clash between the Republic of Ireland and Armenia in their first Euro 2012 qualifier in Yerevan.

Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has had a nightmare week with several key players pulling out of the squad through injury. There was optimism though with Trap when Robbie Keane took part in full training.

Sportspeak’s chief soccer reporter Dan “Pitchside” Pitcher reports.
 

Sportspeak has learned that Fulham’s Damien Duff and Keith Andrews of Blackburn Rovers have been ruled out of the Republic of Ireland’s opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Armenia on Friday.Duff will miss the game because of a calf injury although he could return for next week’s match against Andorra.

Blackburn’s Andrews is out of both games because of a groin injury so Derby’s Paul Green is in line to start.

Liam Lawrence, Paul McShane and Keith Treacy are also injury doubts for Friday’s game in Yerevan.Lawrence has a groin injury while Treacy limped out of Preston’s game against Sheffield United on Saturday.McShane missed Hull’s game against Doncaster because of a calf injury.Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has already called up CSKA Sofia striker Cillian Sheridan for the two qualifiers.

The 21-year-old former Celtic player was not in the initial 25-man panel named by Trapattoni’s assistant Marco Tardelli 10 days ago.Andrews’ absence meant that Green partnered Glenn Whelan in central midfield in the recent friendly against Argentina and the Derby player looks likely to occupy a similar role against Armenia.

Trapattoni’s recovery after surgery led to assistant Tardelli naming the Republic squad for the qualifiers against Armenia in Yerevan and Andorra at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.Trapattoni, 71, is continuing his recuperation after undergoing surgery for an surgery for an abdominal complaint.The Irish manager is confident that he will be fit to travel with the squad to Armenia.

Republic of Ireland squad: Given (Manchester City), Westwood (Coventry City), Murphy (Scunthorpe Utd), O’Shea (Manchester Utd), Dunne (Aston Villa), St Ledger (Preston North End), Cunningham (Manchester City), Foley (Wolves), Kelly (Fulham), McShane (Hull City), O’Dea (Celtic), Kilbane (Hull City), Whelan (Stoke City), Gibson (Manchester Utd), Green (Derby County), Lawrence (Stoke City), McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Keogh (Wolves), Fahey (Birmingham City), Treacy (Preston North End), Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Doyle (Wolves), Long (Reading), Sheridan (CSKA Sofia).

This weekend, Blackpool go in search of their second Premier League victory following last weeks 4-0 opening day win over Wigan, but their task will be far tougher than last week as they travel to Emirates Stadium to meet Arsenal.

Elsewhere during the second round of matches for the new campaign, Spurs will aim for better form than their midweek European display when they head to Stoke City, champions Chelsea face already worrying Wigan Athletic while Fulham manager Mark Hughes locks horns with his former club Manchester United in the weekend’s final clash.

Sportspeak’s chief soccer reporter Dan “Pitchside” Pitcher has this report.
 

The Football Association of Ireland today (August 20^th) announced that Shane Duffy has been declared eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland.

The FIFA Player Status Committee passed its decision today to allow the player represent the national team of the FAI. Having considered the submission made by the FAI and the request from the player, the Single Judge of the Player Status Committee concluded that Shane Duffy is eligible to play for the FAI based on his Irish Nationality and the fact he had never represented the IFA’s association team at ‘A’ International Level previous to the application.

Sportspeak understands that former Derry City star & now Glasgow Celtic winger Paddy McCourt is available after recovering from the neck injury he suffered in the league victory over Inverness. McCourt sustained whiplash during his goal celebrations after netting the winner at the Caledonian Stadium. New signing Daniel Majstorovic is in line to make his début as a replacement for the suspended Jos Hooiveld. Emilio Izaguirre has completed his move to Celtic but was not signed in time to face the Dutch.

Celtic Squad: Zaluska, Loovens, Cha Du-Ri, Majstorovic, Mulgrew, McCourt, Forrest, Brown, Ledley, Samaras, Fortune, Juarez, Maloney, Murphy, Kayal, Cervi, Misun, Ki.

Sportspeak’s Spanish sources say that Real Madrid have completed the signing of Germany World Cup star Mesut Ozil from Werder Bremen.  The 21-year-old was in outstanding form during Germany’s run to the semi-finals, and had attracted interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs.The two clubs are believed to have agreed a fee of about €15m for a player with one year left on his Bremen contract.

Madrid are set to unveil him at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.

A statement on the Real website paid fulsome tribute to Ozil’s qualities. “His unique touch, unmatched individual technique, excellent ball control and deadly last pass make the German midfielder one of the brightest up-and-coming stars in European football,” read the statement. Ozil, who follows his Germany team-mate Sami Khedira to the Bernabeu, joined Werder Bremen from Schalke in 2008, winning the DFB Cup and finishing as a runner-up in the UEFA Cup.”We respect that Mesut wants to go and take the next step in his career,” said Werder Bremen’s director of sport Klaus Allofs.

Ozil won the European Under-21 title with Germany in 2009, and made his début for the senior national side in the same year. He quickly established himself in Joachim Loew’s plans and was one of the stars of the 2010 World Cup, making the short-list for the player of the tournament. Ozil scored a memorable goal in the group stages against Ghana but it was in his role as a creator that he really shone, laying on numerous opportunities for his team-mates as they brushed England and Argentina aside on their way to the last four. In the second round against England, Ozil was in devastating form as a youthful Germany team put their bitter rivals to the sword, and he continued in the same vein against Argentina in the quarter-finals.

The left-footer has become new Real coach Jose Mourinho’s sixth major signing of the summer, following Khedira, former Chelsea star Ricardo Carvalho, Spanish duo Pedro Leon and Sergio Canales and Argentina’s Angel di Maria.

Bohemians 2-0 Bray Wanderers
(Cretaro 34,84)

The word win has never ever been a more important word to Bohemians Football club and they knew that heading into this tie and they have sent their supporters home with smiles on their faces something thats not been done in weeks beating Bray Wanderers 2-0 at Dalymount Park.

Sligo native Raffaele Creataro did enough to secure the desperately needed points with first and second half goals for the Champions, who were having an awful time lately, losing 2-0 to 9 man Galway on Friday and the 3-0 loss to Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght.

Gypsies boss Pat Fenlon made five changes from the team that lost to Galway United. Those changes included bringing Conor Powell who had been sidelined over the last number of weeks. Paddy Madden returned to the starting line-up partnering Raffaele Cretaro up front and Ken Oman returned as well.

Despite being rooted to the bottom of the table Bray seem to have improved since Eddie Gormley’s departure. They had won just two games under his guidance this season and now they look like a rejuvenated team.

Bohs started the game well, full of purpose and determination. This though, was to be another night where the Champions create tonnes of chances but still had massive trouble finishing them. The first chance of the game fell to Paul Keegan, who had his shot blocked Dave Webster and then moments later Paddy Madden saw his header fly right over Matt Gregg’s crossbar after a lovely cross from captain Owen Heary.

Even though the Gypsies had a fine start they were almost punished for not putting away their chances after 20 minutes. John Mulroy from the right hand side allowed Shane O’Neill to shoot with a wonderful crack of the ball, but he was denied by a fantastic save from former Bray man Chris O’Connor.

Bohs finally made good of their chances in the 31st minute after Ken Oman’s header sent Cretaro clear 1 on 1 with Gregg and the ball was in the back of the Bray net. Great header from Oman, that type of creativity was missed at Dalymount Park over the last number of weeks.

Bray to their credit came out the better side in the second half. On 56 minutes it really should have been 1-1, Derek Prendergast found himself unmarked following a corner, but he couldn’t direct his header downwards.

Bray pushed on from there and Jake Kelly had two wonderful chances within minutes of each other, to bring the visitors level. The first came following a cross on the right that found Massey, he then found Kelly but somehow the 21-year-old somehow managed to miss. Only moments later, he was denied by O’Connor who made a fantastic save.

For all of Bray’s chances, they were punished for not taking then right at the death, Raffaele Cretaro, who totally wasted one or two shots mid way through the half wrapped up all 3 points for the champions. He met a cross from Gareth McGlynn on the right and turned it towards goal, it did take a slight deflection from Shane O Connor but none of the Bohs fans cared. A MASSIVE sigh of relief for Bohs supporters but for the few Bray fans who travelled, more agony.

Bohs saw out the rest of the game quite comfortably and move back to third in the table but they are still five points off leaders Shamrock Rovers.

Bohemians: C O’Connor, O Heary, C Powell, G Cronin, B Shelley, K Oman, G Burke, P Keegan, P Madden, K Brennan, R Cretaro SUBS; M Rossiter, J Byrne, M Quigley, G McGlynn, B Murphy

Bray: M Gregg, D Webster, S Houston, S O’Connor, D Prendergast, G Dempsey, D Zambra, D O’Connor, S O’Neill, J Mulroy, J Kelly SUBS; C Tresson, I Tuohy, J Kavanagh, C Shields, D Massey

Sportspeak understands that Nicolas Anelka has been banned for 18 matches by the French Football Federation (FFF) over his conduct at this summer’s World Cup.

The Incredible sulk was sent home from South Africa after a row with coach Raymond Domenech and, in protest, the France squad boycotted a training session. Patrice Evra was captain of the team and has been banned for five matches for his part in the revolt. Franck Ribery has been suspended for three and Jeremy Toulalan for one. Eric Abidal made up the five players who were summoned to the FFF disciplinary hearing on Tuesday and he escaped punishment.

The quintet were highlighted as the key players in the embarrassing controversy which surrounded the French team at the World Cup following Anelka’s outburst at Domenech. Evra and Ribery were summoned for not performing their duties properly as captain and vice-captain, while Toulalan was seen as the perpetrator behind a statement read out by Domenech explaining why the players had refused to train.

Abidal’s offence was his refusal to play in the final group match. Anelka did not show up at the disciplinary hearing and his international career now appears to be all but over.

Ribery was also an absentee but his club Bayern Munich did not allow him to attend with the Bundesliga starting its season this weekend and the German champions facing Wolfsburg in their opening game on Friday.

The pair sent representatives, while Evra, Toulalan and Abidal were present for the lengthy hearing, along with Domenech.

Former deputy managing director of the team Jean-Louis Valentin said: “I sensed that the players are truthfully sorry, and been left damaged and mortified at what took place, they were conscious of a collective meltdown. I believe that now it is imperative we turn the page and move on.I believe that to a certain extent there has been a very good dialogue in there (at the commission) which lasted a relatively long time. As a lover of the French team, and as a supporter of the France team, I think that each player has the right to a second chance.”

Domenech has been replaced by Laurent Blanc and he did not select any of the 23-man World Cup squad for his recent first game in charge against Norway, which France lost 2-1.The FFF has also withheld World Cup advertising bonuses which were due to be paid to players. Blanc will now be without the banned players for the team’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, starting against Belarus in Paris on 3 September.

The Football Association of Ireland unveiled that beer brand Carling as the sponsor if the inaugural Carling Nations Cup which will see the Republic of Ireland take on Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales at the brand new Aviva Stadium early next year.

The Nations Cup, which kicks off on Tuesday February 8 2011, will be the first senior international tournament hosted in Ireland and marks a significant investment by Carling.

The new tournament will be played in a league format with six matches between the four neighbourning teams, the first two taking taking place at the Aviva on February 8th and 9th and the remaining four taking place during may.

Carling has been a major sponsor of football for many years and today’s announcement builds upon its range of other sponsorships which includes the Carling Cup in England and Wales, the Carling Premiership in Northern Ireland and most recently the Scottish national team and the Scottish Cup.

At the announcement, Sportspeak caught up with legends Packie Bonner and Pat Jennings.
 

Sportspeak understands that Aiden McGeady has ignored a plea from the hospitalized Giovanni Trappatoni and has completed his €11m switch from Celtic to Spartak Moscow and agreed a four-and-half-year contract with the Russian club. The 24-year-old Republic of Ireland midfielder is the most expensive ever export from Scottish football.”Celtic is the team I have supported my whole life and I will miss so many things,However, now I am looking forward to the new challenge of playing for Spartak Moscow.”

McGeady made his Celtic debut in April 2004 when he scored in the 1-1 draw against Hearts at Tynecastle and went on to make 252 appearances, scoring 37 goals. He won three league titles, as well as two Scottish Cups and two League Cups.”It’s what he wanted to do and sometimes you can’t stand in the way of that,It’s a huge offer and I think it’s the right offer. It’s probably good business for Spartak and good business for us.” according to Neil Lennon. McGeady’s departure will provide Lennon with funds to bolster his squad and may see Celtic revive their interest in Stoke winger Liam Lawrence.

The money generated from the record transfer could also help facilitate a loan move for Manchester City forward Craig Bellamy. However, the manager expressed sadness at losing such a talented player.”I’m sorry to lose him, he is one of the entertainers in the game,We’ll probably miss out on his peak years but he came to us and said that he felt at the end of the season it would be better for him to move on. It’s difficult to stand in the way of someone who doesn’t want to be here.”

One player hoping to benefit from McGeady’s exit is Pat McCourt, the former Derry City winger who has been on the fringes of the first team for two seasons now.”We’ve probably lost the best player in the league, I’m sure it’s going to be a big hole. But it’s up to someone to step up to the plate and fill it. It’s up to whoever gets a shout and gets the jersey to hold on to it, and I’m hoping it’ll be me. This year’s the year I really want to kick on and be a regular in the side.” said McCourt.

Spartak, managed by former Russian World Cup star Valery Karpin, lie in eighth position in the Russian Premier League, having won only five of their 15 matches.