Congrats Robbie!!

[tomas_brolin]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=360154&cc=5901

that says it all....

[THFC1]

Keane = captain of Ireland. Roy or Robbie it doesn't matter :p
I thought Shay Given was going to be the captain but Robbie has been around the Ireland squad since he was 17 so he does deserve the honour of captaining his country.

[Leto]

I'm delighted, I picked him as captain in the Sweden pre-match thread at the end of January:

Keane is chosen as the captain partly because the alternatives are limited to Given (I don't like keepers as captains), Dunne (a contender, but not sure enough of his place yet), Finnan (not leadership material IMHO), and Duff (a possibility, but I'd prefer to leave him free to concentrate on his own game. He's become a lot more vocal since he moved to Chelsea though). In addition, Keane has really thrived on the (vice-) captaincy of Spurs in recent weeks, and I reckon the responsibility could help to cut out the petulance and silliness in the green that have driven us all mad at one time or another. Along with Given and Duff, he's our most vital player, and we need Keane to have any chance of success. He's respected, talented, seen a lot, and will be on our teamsheet for years to come. Doyle and Elliott (who can come on at some point) can learn a lot from him.

Hopefully he can take his game to another level now, he seems to relish responsibility. Keane & Given should make a good team.

[Leto]

Well, it seems to suit him so far - he scored the second goal in a 3-0 win.

[pmannion]

Here are the highlights. Robbie's goal is the second.

http://s39.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=38IZMYS7H3UR819VGQLSKILOCQ

[tomas_brolin]

Well, it seems to suit him so far - he scored the second goal in a 3-0 win.
crap sweden lost then :(

but good for robbie!

[Malkamus]

congrats to robbie -- looks like sweden played their B+ team however -- did Kelly get on the pitch?

[Leto]

congrats to robbie -- looks like sweden played their B+ team however -- did Kelly get on the pitch?

Nope, spent the match on the bench. I can't say I know all that much about Sweden's strongest team at the moment, but I didn't notice too many obvious starters missing, and according to one of the Swedish posters in the match thread that was more or less their strongest available line-up. Still, only a friendly. I haven't seen the match yet but from what I've heard Robbie played deeper than usual - off Kevin Doyle with Stephen Elliott allowed to join the attack from wide on the right.

[THFC1]

I think it was Sweden's strongest team

------------Isaksson
Ostlund-Mellburg-Hannson-Edman
Linderoth-Elmander-Kallstrom-Wilhelmsson
-------Larsson-Ibrahimovic

The only players they were missing from the final qualifing game were Teddy Lucic (he was on the bench), Ljungberg (injured)& Anders Svensson (come on in the 2nd half)