Keane back with big bang for Galaxy

Giovanni Trapattoni has been handed some good news in the familiar form of a goalscoring return to action by his skipper Robbie Keane.

LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena and Keane’s team-mate Landon Donovan were full of praise for the striker after he scored one goal and made another in a 4-1 win away to Philadelphia Union in what was the player’s comeback appearance for his club after missing three games with an ankle injury.

“Robbie is a great player, what else can you say?” said Arena. “He makes us look really good. I was surprised he got through the 90 minutes. I thought we were going to have to take him out around 75 minutes, but we had to keep him on the field and he did a good job towards the end.”

Donovan also chipped in withplaudits, saying: “You have to remember, he has been off for three weeks, but he came right back in and it was seamless. Robbie makes good passes and when he gets a chance to score he scores and that makes it easier on all of us.”

Keane himself, happy to be playing again after a frustrating spell out, preferred to accentuate the positives of the collective.

“It was a good performance for everyone,” he said. “First half we played okay, but in the second half that’s the way we know we can play. If we can play against teams the way we played against Philadelphia, we can cause problems for everyone.”

Despite his recovery from injury, it’s still not clear if Keane will be available for duty on Wednesday week when Ireland take on England in a glamour friendly at Wembley, though there could well be some clarity on the issue later today.

Although named in Trapattoni’s squad for Ireland’s four end-of-season games — including the World Cup qualifier in Dublin against the Faroe Islands — the Wembley friendly does not fall on a recognised international date, and so LA Galaxy, who have MLS matches either side of the fixture, are under no obligation to release Keane for that game.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has challenged Trapattoni’s assertion that Ciaran Clark will have to undergo surgery on a foot injury which has ruled him out of Ireland’s upcoming games.

“He doesn’t need an operation,” said the Villa boss. “I haven’t been told otherwise. I don’t think that’s the case unless the injury does not heal as quick as we think it should.”

Lambert also indicated that he is keen to tie up new deals with Clark, his fellow defender Nathan Baker and striker Andreas Weimann at Villa Park.

“They are a reward for some outstanding performances this season,” the manager said. “We will get the Wigan game out of the way on Sunday and then see where we will be going.”