22 METROSPORT Monday, October 12, 2009 D Trapattoni takes SOCCER rep of ireland v italy Heartbreak: lawrence buries his head in the Croke park turf at full-time Comeback: Hargreaves Hargreaves out to repay fans Owen Hargreaves is impatient to repay the faith of Manchester United fans and is confident he will soon return better than ever after more than a year out with a serious knee injury. The 28-year-old england midfielder was told by renowned surgeon Dr richard steadman that his knee problems were among the worst he had seen in his long and distinguished career. surgery and ten months of intensive rehabilitation followed, but Hargreaves believes it was essential time well spent and he is now setting his sights on a long-lived return and a career he hopes can last into his late 30s. The best is yet to come, and I just cannot wait to get back out there, he said. I will be trying to improve my game and achieve the great success I think we [United] are destined for. Ronaldo facing 4-week lay-off Cristiano ronaldo is facing up to a month on the sidelines with an ankle sprain suffered on international duty. the worlds most expensive player returned to real Madrid yesterday for tests after limping out of portugals 3-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Hungary on saturday. the club last night confirmed that ronaldo is facing several weeks out. after a clinical examination and an Mri scan, it is confirmed the player has suffered a recurrence of his injury to his right ankle, a medial collateral sprain with inflammation in the bone, the club said in a statement. the estimated [recovery] time is three to four weeks. Rio still doing grand: Capello engLanD coach Fabio Capello insists rio Ferdinands recent struggle for form is not cause for concern. Ferdinands blunder against Ukraine allowed artem Milevskiy to charge through the england defence and left robert green with little alternative than to make the challenge that saw him become the first england keeper to be sent off. But, asked if he was concerned about the form of Ferdinand, Capello said: no. He made one mistake. It was a long ball and he didnt judge the direction well. But after that he played a good game. at this moment he is making some mistakes but you cannot question rios value. FOOTBALLDigest Emotional Lawrence sees need for ruthless streakLiam Lawrence has revealed the emotional rollercoaster he and his team-mates went through during Saturdays dramatic 2-2 draw with world champions italy at croke Park. right winger Lawrence fell to the ground on the final whistle after italy had snatched a point with their late equaliser, minutes after Sean St Ledger appeared to have given ireland a famous win. Lawrence, who was making his competitive debut, also spoke of Stoke city team-mate Glenn whelan shedding tears of joy at his spectacular opening goal. Yeah, he was, said Lawrence of whelan crying as he celebrated his stunning seventh-minute strike. i think he kissed the badge as well, unbelievable finish to be fair in a game of massive importance. He was very emotional. Hes done it at Stoke, scores from outside the box quite a bit. Hes got it in his locker and proved he can do it at the highest level. Lawrence was fairly emotional himself at the final whistle. Yes, i was absolutely devastated, so close to beating them and giving them a serious problem, having to beat cyprus. ive played over 300 games, a lot of them have been massive games. it was the biggest of my life. it was just one of those things. it wasnt meant to be, it happens. it was just disappointing to concede with that many minutes left. we spoke about it afterwards. its something we need to sort out. The first goal as well, the smallest guy heading it in. we need to be a bit more ruthless, especially with three minutes left, the ball down in the corner for them to do us on the break. You could see how delighted they were. it showed we gave them a good game. its about being professional. its something the italians are very good at and something Trapattoni has been doing all of his life and something we need to do. Picture:ActionImages Fulham winger Damien Duff has rejoined the Republic of Ireland squad ahead of Wednesday nights final World Cup qualifier against montenegro. The 30-year-old was in the stands at Croke Park for Saturday nights dramatic 2-2 draw with Italy which saw the Republic clinch a play-off spot. Duff spent the latter part of last week back in london having treatment on the calf problem which ruled him out of the game, but returned to training in malahide yesterday morning. manager Giovanni Trapattoni said: Damien Duff is with us and he said to me the injury has gone. midfielder Glenn Whelan is suspended for the montenegro game after picking up his second booking of the campaign on Saturday, and Trapattoni hinted he will make changes with five men Shay Given, aiden mcGeady, Keith andrews, Paul mcShane and leon Best all on one yellow card and knowing another would rule them out of the first leg of the play-offs. Given, along with Kevin Kilbane, is in line to win his 100th cap if selected. Duff back in training as Trap prepares to ring the changes Back: duff trained yesterday in Malahide index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html