Irish number one in fitness battle for Germany qualifier
It’s the same injury which forced Given to withdraw from Ireland’s squad for the game against Holland and, although he played for Newcastle United in their opening Premiership victory over Wigan two days later, his involvement was only made possible through a pain-killing injection.
Given says that, if the injury hasn’t fully cleared up, he would be prepared to have another injection to get him through the German game but, ideally, he would hope that the problem has settled down by then. In the meantime, he is doing all he can to get himself fit for Newcastle’s game against Aston Villa on Sunday — and that means swapping the training ground for the treatment table this week and trying everything from ultrasound to acupuncture.
He sustained the injury in the away leg of the UEFA Cup game against Ventspils, from which the Magpies take a one-goal lead into tonight’s match at St James’s Park.
Says Given: “I just took a goal kick and straightaway felt something strain or pull in the lower part of my back. I haven’t trained this week at all, I’ve just been getting treatment on it.
“I am still struggling a bit to be honest but I’m hoping to be okay for the German game. But I’m just having to play it day by day at the moment. Unless I get a reaction over the next week or so I’m not overly concerned about my fitness for Germany but it’s still annoying. I don’t think I’ve had something like this before so I just hope it settles down.”
Over the last couple of days, Given received acupuncture as part of his treatment.
“I’ve tried it a few times on different things. The physios think it helps. Some of those things might be more important psychologically than physically but the physios swear by them. I’m just trying everything. Last week was the first time this kind of injury made me miss an Irish game. I never want to miss a game for Ireland. But if you are to miss one, better a friendly than the first game of the European qualifiers.”
Given, who watched the Dutch drubbing on television, argues that the game needs to be put in perspective.
“I think people can sometimes overreact,” he says. “At the end of the day it was a friendly before a ball has really been kicked this season and a large part of our team wasn’t even playing. People need to relax a bit. We’re heading to Germany now and that’s the important game.
“Obviously it’s going to be a hugely difficult game because Germany are a very good team as they showed in the World Cup. But we can’t dwell on what happened last week, or what happened against Chile or even Sweden for that matter. They’re all gone now. People can write or say what they want. We’ve got to be positive and look forward to the game on Saturday week. We need to go in with high spirits and hopefully we’ll have most of the players back on the team.”
Like country, like club, Newcastle United are a team in transition, and Given is encouraged by the direction in which they are going.
“We have got the nucleus of a decent team now. We knew we needed to add some players before this window closes. If we can add the quality of Obafemi Martins and a couple more, I think we can have a good season. It was nice to kick off last Saturday with a winning start. Normally we don’t get off to a good start so it was nice to get the three points in the first game.”
Not surprisingly, the Donegal man was thrilled to see his international team-mate Damien Duff fetching up at Newcastle.
“It’s fantastic for us to get a player of his calibre to come here. And to get him at that knockdown price — probably because he had only a year left on his contract at Chelsea — was a good bit of business by the chairman. I think the fans are delighted too. He did well on Saturday but he’s only going to get sharper and better because he’s going to play every week here. And that will be good for Ireland as well.”
Indeed, with Duff, Stephen Carr, newcomer Alan O’Brien and Given all on board, there’s a healthy Irish community developing at St James’s Park.
“We’re working on it,” Given laughs. “It’s good actually. Alan O’Brien has come into the squad as well and I think having three other Newcastle players around will help him settle into the Irish set-up. Four of us will be travelling back and forth to Ireland together and playing in the same club can only help the international team as well.”
And how fast is young O’Brien?
“He is probably the quickest player at our football club. Obviously it was difficult for him to come on (against Holland) in the circumstances but I felt he did very well for what was his first game and caused them some problems. And I think he deserved to stay in the squad for what he did in the game.”
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