Three Derby County players could be in line to help Republic of Ireland take another giant stride towards FIFA 2018 World Cup qualification later today.
Richard Keogh, Cyrus Christie and Alex Pearce will all be hoping to feature for the Green Army, who take on Austria at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, kick-off: 5pm.
All three Rams defenders have had game-time in the two friendlies – a 3-1 defeat to Mexico in New Jersey and a victory by the same scoreline over Uruguay – that were pencilled in prior to this meeting.
Christie, the 24-year-old full back, played in both matches and scored an early second half goal in the latter to put Martin O’Neill’s side back in front in Dublin.
Keogh, the Derby captain, started the defeat to Mexico, whilst his centre back partner, Pearce, was involved in the win over Uruguay as a second half substitute.
All three will be hoping they have done enough to get the nod in this crucial World Cup qualifier.
Four points separate Republic of Ireland in second and Austria in fourth ahead of this afternoon’s meeting and Keogh told RamsTV how important this game is – labelling it as ‘massive’.
The 30-year-old said: “That’s a massive match for us and if we can pick up a positive result in that then it will leave us in great shape in the group.
“We have had a good start. The confidence from the Euro’s has been a massive part of that and there’s also the fact that a lot of the squad has been together for a long time now and know each other inside out.
“We have ridden the confidence and with it the performances have been very strong.
“We know we need to keep that going if we want to qualify for the World Cup, but we will be going all out to try and do that.”
You can keep up to date with how the trio fare across all of Derby County’s digital channels.
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