The USMNT have one less thing to worry about when they face the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday in Dublin (2:45 pm ET, ESPN2).
Ireland's FA and the LA Galaxy announced on Saturday that 2014 MLS MVP candidate Robbie Keane will be released from his national team to rejoin his MLS club ahead of the start of the MLS Western Conference Championship on Sunday, November 23 against the Seattle Sounders (5 pm ET, ESPN and ESPN Deportes).
Keane joined the Republic of Ireland ahead of their Friday EURO 2016 qualifier against Scotland, which resulted in a 1-0 loss for the Irish, their first defeat in their EURO campaign. The Galaxy captain, who is Ireland's all-time leading scorer (65 goals), was left out of the starting lineup, coming on as a 78th minute sub, and it didn't come without some controversy.
Irish media outlets reported that it was the first competitive match in 13 years that the 34-year-old Keane missed when available and fit. He was replaced by Shane Long, who played in the lone striker set-up.
"If the manager wants to play with one up front, I'm not [expletive] Niall Quinn or I'm not Shane Long - they are better at that than I am," Keane told Ireland's Independent. "If you play two up front and you want to score goals, that's my game.
"Listen, I'd prefer to speak about the team rather than an individual, making a big deal out of someone else starting the game. The manager made a decision and you have to respect that. Playing one up front doesn't suit me, I think that's fairly obvious. I'm 5-foot-10, so it's not my game."
The next EURO qualifying matches for Ireland take place in March 2015. They're in a battle in Group D with Poland, Germany and Scotland for the two automatic qualifying berths to France 2016. The best third-place team from the entire qualifying field also makes it through.
