Robbie answers his critics

WHEN it comes to clinching an argument in football, the traditional line of last resort is “show us yer medals”.

So you can be sure that Robbie Keane won’t be making light of the fact that, with just a single medal (for the 2008 League Cup) to show for a long career traversing the high lands of English, Scottish and European club football, he finally added a second last week when he helped LA Galaxy to their MLS Cup final win over Houston Dynamo.

There was no goal in that game for Keane, though he did have a legitimate effort wrongly ruled out for offside. But his role in Landon Donovan’s winner was crucial, the Irish skipper picking up a pass from David Beckham, improvising neatly to beat his marker and then, with the opposition anticipating a shot from just outside the box, playing a reverse pass which put Donovan through on goal to dink one over the Houston ‘keeper Tally Hall..