D Monday, February 8, 2010 SPORT 23 SOCCER EURO 2012 DRAW Group full of Eastern promise Whelan Robbie Keane stepped off the bench to score his first goal for Celtic since his loan move from Tottenham last week. Republic of ireland skipper Keane, who watched his new side go 2-1 down, entered the fray at half-time and converted a penalty in the 4-2 Scottish Cup fifth round win against Dunfermline. He adds real quality, real class. His quality in the final third made the difference, said Hoops boss Tony Mowbray. Today the most important thing was getting the win they certainly made it difficult for us, Keane, who denied he was disappointed to start the game on the bench, said. its about the team and about the squad and the lads who came in today were superb. Diomansy Kamara opened the scoring for the Hoops, who needed an Morten Rasmussen equaliser and a Calum Woods own goal to regain the lead before Keane struck. Robbie hits the spot Ronnie Whelan insists that euro 2012 qualification Group B should hold no fears for Giovan- ni Trapattonis ireland. a veteran of irelands euro 88 campaign, scoring a memorable goal in the 1-1 draw with the USSR in hanover, 53-times capped Whelan was upbeat about our hopes of making Po- land/Ukraine in two years time. There is nothing really there to frighten you, said Whelan of eastern european opponents Russia, Slovakia, Macedonia, armenia and minnows andorra. Youve got to go into that group with confidence. With more con- fidence than when we went into the last group with italy and Bul- garia, when you fancy we wont come out of that group. But with this group id say weve got a great chance. Weve played most of the teams and our record against them is not par- ticularly bad. im worried about how the players are going to react having been knocked out of the [World Cup]. i know theyve had a long time to think about it and they should have had enough time to get over it. its a new start now. They should go into this with confi- dence because they went so far in the last group. There is noth- ing there, as i say, to frighten us and i think we should come out of the group. The question of whether Guus hiddink stays on as Russia man- ager when his contract expires in the summer could be a crucial factor, Whelan believes. hiddink is the big thing with Russia. hes said my contract finishes in July and ill see what happens after that. if he doesnt stay it gives you a great chance against them. a new manager coming in, hes got to assess all his players, hes got to look at it again. So thats a plus [for ireland] if hiddink goes. hiddink himself is wary of ire- land having been impressed with their World Cup play-off display against France in Paris. he said: We have seen them recently playing in Paris, and before, so they are very competitive. By Eddie Cleary euro 2012 groups group A Germany, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan group B Russia, Slovakia, RepubliC of iRelanD, FYR Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra group C Italy, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands group D France, Romania, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg group e Holland, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, San Marino group F Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta group g England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro group H Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland group I Spain, Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein Picture:ActionImages PREMIER LEAGUE Dont write us off, says Mick lethal weapon: phillips MiCK McCaRThY insisted he could not believe how Wolves threw away victory at St andrews yesterday. his side remain in the relegation zone after a late brace from Kevin Phillips denied them a certain-looking win as Birmingham came from behind to win 2-1. McCarthy said: i have not been in our dressing-room before and seen the lads as disappointed as that after a game. You feel hard done by, and it is hard, but weve got a game on Wednesday against Tottenham and that is the motivation we need. if we play like that in our remaining games, i dont think we can be written off. after half-time we were on top and when that is the case you need to take your chances. We didnt, that cost us. We invited pressure and have paid the price. Wolves were in great shape after Kevin Doyle had given the visitors a 42nd-minute lead. But Phillips came into the action midway through the second period in place of the injured Christian Benitez and netted in the 80th and 85th minutes. Blues boss alex Mcleish said: Kevin will never lose that ability in the box. he might lose his teeth, go bald, and his legs will go at some stage, but he will always have that magnificent technique and touch of a top player. birmingham: Hart, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson (Gardner 68), Ferguson, Bowyer, McFadden (Fahey 74), Jerome, Benitez (Phillips 63). Wolves: Hahnemann, Zubar, Craddock, Berra, Ward, Foley (Ebanks-Blake 88), Henry, Mancienne, Jones (Guedioura 67), Jarvis (Surman 88), Doyle. Ref: Lee Probert birmingham 2 wolves 1 index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html