The 2002 World Cup had many iconic moments. One that is often overlooked is the entire world getting to witness the Robbie Keane celebration.
I’d mastered it as a 12-year-old. The cartwheel into the forward roll before finishing with the gun fingers. It hadn’t reached the global stage prior to the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. By the end of the competition, everyone knew all about it.
To set the scene a little bit, this Republic of Ireland team were without Roy Keane following the Saipan incident. Mick McCarthy had a squad made up of experienced internationals in Steve Staunton, Jason McAteer, Niall Quinn and Gary Kelly who had all played in the 1994 World Cup. You then youngsters looking to make names for themselves. A 23-year-old Damien Duff had just finished his first season back in the Premier League, for example. Clinton Morrison was called up after his goalscoring exploits in the First Division for Crystal Palace but the pressure was firmly on Keane to deliver.
Harry Symeou hosts Scott Saunders & Toby Cudworth to look back on Korea/Japan ’02 as part of the ‘Our World Cups’ series. We take a trip down memory lane – join us!
It is easy to forget this now looking back having seen the career he went on to have, but heading into the World Cup, Keane had scored just three goals for Leeds United after making his loan move from Inter a permanent one.
He went on to be a goal machine for club and country but at that point, the 21-year-old must’ve been in the squad due to his potential and not his form.
McCarthy’s men kicked off their campaign with what turned out to be an invaluable 1-1 draw with Cameroon. Matt Holland scored an important equaliser after the break and Keane almost won it when his right-footed effort from distance cannoned back off the post.
The same thing happened in the following match. This time it was a late kick-off so it felt right.
Miroslav Klose had scored in the first half but Germany weren’t able to kick on as they had in their first match – an 8-0 win.
“Cue bedlam in the stands, in Ireland and in my house, and cartwheels on the pitch. “
In the second minute of stoppage time against Germany, Steve Finnan’s long punt was flicked on by Niall Quinn. Keane latched onto it and though a challenge forced him to delay the shoot, he somehow wrapped his foot around the ball and fired goalwards. Oliver Khan got something on the ball, his head, but it wasn’t enough to divert it wide. Instead, it clipped the post…
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