As expected, Ireland will take a mostly inexperienced squad to New Jersey to play Mexico next week. Martin O'Neill's side play at the MetLife Stadium on June 1st.
The group will feature three uncapped players and five with just a single cap each. Many of the more experienced players are being held back for the friendly against Uruguay in Dublin on June 4th. Ireland also play a World Cup qualifier against Austria at the Aviva on June 11th.
Among the more highly-capped players who will travel to the US is James McClean.
Quoted by the Irish Mirror, Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane said on Thursday that McClean was enthusiastic about playing the Mexicans.
However, it appears McClean expressed that desire to make the trip without knowing he is unlikely to see game time.
James has not played loads of games over the last month or two.
He seems to love being involved and feels there’s a benefit to him in going to America. What he doesn’t know yet is he probably won’t get a game over there!
Though McClean made 34 appearances for West Brom in the league this season, 21 of those were off the bench.
Keane said that for the 28-year-old to improve further, he needs to be starting regularly in the Premier League.
James has never let us down. What goes on at club level, listen, we don’t dip into the clubs’ business. It’s no concern of ours.
But James has matured nicely over the last year or two and has started adding a few important goals to his game. But James McClean still has a long way to go.
There’s plenty of (room for) improvement. He’s very passionate about playing for Ireland and very enthusiastic but we also hope that James will improve as a player.
And he’ll improve a lot more when he’s playing regularly in the Premiership. He’s probably not quite at that stage yet for one reason or another.
Picture credit: Sportsfile
