Trapattoni names preliminary squad for crunch qualifiers

Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni today announced a 26-man preliminary list from which a final squad will be selected for the upcoming Group B European Championship qualifiers.

The Boys in Green will take on Russia at home on October 8 (kick-off: 7.45pm) and Slovakia away on October 12 (kick-off: 8.30pm local time).

“We go into these qualifiers with six points from six in the opening games of the campaign in September,” said Trapattoni.

“We performed well against Armenia and Andorra and we will build on these good results in our next games against Russia and Slovakia.

“These teams are the top seeds in the group and they will be looking to take three points from us to kickstart their Euro campaigns, but we have prepared well and will not make it easy for them as we continue to lay the foundations to qualify for the European Championship finals.”

Republic of Ireland squad: Shay Given (Manchester City), Keiren Westwood (Coventry City), Joe Murphy (Scunthorpe United), John O’Shea (Manchester United), Richard Dunne (Aston Villa), Sean St Ledger (Preston North End), Greg Cunningham (Manchester City), Kevin Foley (Wolves), Stephen Kelly (Fulham), Paul McShane (Hull City), Darren O’Dea (Ipswich Town), Kevin Kilbane (Hull City), Keith Andrews (Blackburn Rovers), Glenn Whelan (Stoke City), Darron Gibson (Manchester United), Paul Green (Derby County), Liam Lawrence (Portsmouth), Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Andy Keogh (Cardiff City), Damien Duff (Fulham), Keith Fahey (Birmingham City), Keith Treacy (Preston North End), Robbie Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Kevin Doyle (Wolves), Shane Long (Reading), Cillian Sheridan (CSKA Sofia).