FOR CALLUM ROBINSON the spoils continue to far outweigh the circumstances.
The West Brom striker has linked up with the Irish squad ahead of a triple-header of games over the next eight days, the showpiece a trip to Slovakia on Thursday for the Euro 2020 play-off semi-final ahead of back-to-back Nations League games with Wales in Dublin and Finland in Helsinki.
Robinson and the Irish squad are in a biosecure bubble now, from which players and staff cannot leave. The players were tested for Covid-19 today, and will be tested on their return to Dublin on Friday and again before departure to Finland on Monday.
Cases of the virus continues to rise across Europe, however, though the increase in cases did not leave Robinson thinking twice about linking up with the Irish squad.
“I think everyone is obviously a bit anxious about catching it, which is understandable, but at the end of the day this is our job and you’re playing for your country”, Robinson told reporters on a Zoom call this evening.
“There is no way I’m not catching a flight to Ireland and a flight over to Slovakia and back, and then to Finland. No chance am I missing that. Obviously you are anxious because it is crazy what’s going on in the world right now, but at the end of the day it’s our job and we want to play for our country. It’s as simple as that.”
Thursday’s play-off in Bratislava will take place as planned, exempt from Slovakia’s ban on all sporting and cultural events in response to a rise in Covid cases. It will be behind closed doors, however, a drearily familiar environment for the Irish players at this stage.
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“I miss the fans at games, especially games like Thursday night, it would have been going off. So it’s obviously disappointing”, said Robinson.
“I miss them loads and probably took them for granted because now is the first time ever that we’ve had to play without fans, and you really do miss them. It’s going to be different without them on Thursday night, without our fans there.”
When asked about he has found most challenging about playing in empty stadia thus far, Robinson replied, “when you score against Chelsea and there’s no-one there to celebrate with, just the camera! That’s the difficult part of it, and for West Brom back in the Premier League, the fans would be roaring us on and celebrating and helping us on the way, which isn’t happening at the moment.”
Robinson celebrates scoring the first of those goals against Chelsea. AP / PA Images
AP / PA Images / PA Images
Robinson spent the latter half of last season on loan at West Brom from Sheffield United, and made the move permanent ahead of this season’s kick-off. He has made a strong start, and scored twice in that wild 3-3 draw at home to Chelsea last month. While he has traditionally been used off the right for Ireland, Stephen Kenny says his thinking may be swayed by Robinson’s form as a central striker for West Brom.
“For Preston North End I played a lot on the left, for Ireland I’ve played a lot on the right, last season I was on the left and right, and this season I’ve been playing through the middle for the first four games of the season. I enjoy playing in any of those positions; I enjoy playing in the final third and trying to be a threat from the left, right, or up front.
“It’s good for me as it helps me get into the squads and hopefully I can push for that starting spot.
“I’ve obviously started the first four games of the season and was involved in one of the cup games and got myself a few goals, so I’m obviously positive going into the game.
“I’ve got to wait on the gaffer’s selection, but I’m just going to keep working hard and try to do well in training over the next few days and see how it goes.”
The Irish squad trained at Abbottstown today, with Aaron Connolly sitting the session out as a minor precaution, but is expected to be fit for the Slovakia game. Doubts remain over the fitness of Harry Arter, who has remained in England for a scan on a thigh injury. Darragh Lenihan and Seamus Coleman have been ruled out with knee and hamstring injuries respectively, with Kevin Long and Cyrus Christie called up in their place.
It’s Christie’s first appearance in the squad since he gave a bracing insight to Off the Ball about the racist abuse he has endured both in person and online when representing Ireland. At one point Christie said he, Robinson and David McGoldrick received a lot more abuse questioning their rights to play for Ireland than the white English-born players in the squad.
“I haven’t had a lot”, said Robinson. “When I was at Preston and I first joined the squad I had a few tweets but I haven’t had anything face-to-face and I haven’t heard anything from the crowd. With Twitter, you never get a face on the other side of it. We had those tweets deleted as we want that kicked out. We are obviously playing for the country as we have Irish in us, so that doesn’t make sense at all. We still put in 110% for the country. It’s disappointing Cyrus has had that, I’ve had a little bit of it but maybe not as much as him.”
Robinson expects Ireland to improve on their two performances under Kenny to date – a 1-1 draw with Bulgaria along with a 1-0 defeat at home to Finland – given their sharpened match fitness, with Robinson admitting he was only at 75% for those games, which were played before the English season began.
It was tough as we had a few pre-season games but they are not the same. It was a short pre-season anyway, two-and-half, three weeks and then we had two massive games like that. It’s tough. Obviously we had the new information from the new manager to take on board, which is tough but no excuse. You could see what he wanted from how we played, but that extra 15 or 20% is going to take us a long way.”
It may take Ireland all the way to a play-off final with either Bosnia or Northern Ireland next month, and blow away some of the country’s gathering gloom.
“Through these sad times at the moment, I would say football in general is keeping people healthy. You laugh and you think there’s no chance, but I know football is definitely helping people’s heads: being at home a lot at the moment and watching the games, obviously it makes them happy.
“On Thursday if we can get a win to put a smile on people’s faces, and winter is coming as well and that’s a bit of a downer with the virus so football is obviously a massive thing, and if we can get that win for the country that would be massive.”
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Representing Ireland matters above all else for Callum Robinson
FOR CALLUM ROBINSON the spoils continue to far outweigh the circumstances.
The West Brom striker has linked up with the Irish squad ahead of a triple-header of games over the next eight days, the showpiece a trip to Slovakia on Thursday for the Euro 2020 play-off semi-final ahead of back-to-back Nations League games with Wales in Dublin and Finland in Helsinki.
Robinson and the Irish squad are in a biosecure bubble now, from which players and staff cannot leave. The players were tested for Covid-19 today, and will be tested on their return to Dublin on Friday and again before departure to Finland on Monday.
Cases of the virus continues to rise across Europe, however, though the increase in cases did not leave Robinson thinking twice about linking up with the Irish squad.
“I think everyone is obviously a bit anxious about catching it, which is understandable, but at the end of the day this is our job and you’re playing for your country”, Robinson told reporters on a Zoom call this evening.
“There is no way I’m not catching a flight to Ireland and a flight over to Slovakia and back, and then to Finland. No chance am I missing that. Obviously you are anxious because it is crazy what’s going on in the world right now, but at the end of the day it’s our job and we want to play for our country. It’s as simple as that.”
Thursday’s play-off in Bratislava will take place as planned, exempt from Slovakia’s ban on all sporting and cultural events in response to a rise in Covid cases. It will be behind closed doors, however, a drearily familiar environment for the Irish players at this stage.
“I miss the fans at games, especially games like Thursday night, it would have been going off. So it’s obviously disappointing”, said Robinson.
“I miss them loads and probably took them for granted because now is the first time ever that we’ve had to play without fans, and you really do miss them. It’s going to be different without them on Thursday night, without our fans there.”
When asked about he has found most challenging about playing in empty stadia thus far, Robinson replied, “when you score against Chelsea and there’s no-one there to celebrate with, just the camera! That’s the difficult part of it, and for West Brom back in the Premier League, the fans would be roaring us on and celebrating and helping us on the way, which isn’t happening at the moment.”
Robinson spent the latter half of last season on loan at West Brom from Sheffield United, and made the move permanent ahead of this season’s kick-off. He has made a strong start, and scored twice in that wild 3-3 draw at home to Chelsea last month. While he has traditionally been used off the right for Ireland, Stephen Kenny says his thinking may be swayed by Robinson’s form as a central striker for West Brom.
“For Preston North End I played a lot on the left, for Ireland I’ve played a lot on the right, last season I was on the left and right, and this season I’ve been playing through the middle for the first four games of the season. I enjoy playing in any of those positions; I enjoy playing in the final third and trying to be a threat from the left, right, or up front.
“It’s good for me as it helps me get into the squads and hopefully I can push for that starting spot.
“I’ve obviously started the first four games of the season and was involved in one of the cup games and got myself a few goals, so I’m obviously positive going into the game.
“I’ve got to wait on the gaffer’s selection, but I’m just going to keep working hard and try to do well in training over the next few days and see how it goes.”
The Irish squad trained at Abbottstown today, with Aaron Connolly sitting the session out as a minor precaution, but is expected to be fit for the Slovakia game. Doubts remain over the fitness of Harry Arter, who has remained in England for a scan on a thigh injury. Darragh Lenihan and Seamus Coleman have been ruled out with knee and hamstring injuries respectively, with Kevin Long and Cyrus Christie called up in their place.
It’s Christie’s first appearance in the squad since he gave a bracing insight to Off the Ball about the racist abuse he has endured both in person and online when representing Ireland. At one point Christie said he, Robinson and David McGoldrick received a lot more abuse questioning their rights to play for Ireland than the white English-born players in the squad.
“I haven’t had a lot”, said Robinson. “When I was at Preston and I first joined the squad I had a few tweets but I haven’t had anything face-to-face and I haven’t heard anything from the crowd. With Twitter, you never get a face on the other side of it. We had those tweets deleted as we want that kicked out. We are obviously playing for the country as we have Irish in us, so that doesn’t make sense at all. We still put in 110% for the country. It’s disappointing Cyrus has had that, I’ve had a little bit of it but maybe not as much as him.”
Robinson expects Ireland to improve on their two performances under Kenny to date – a 1-1 draw with Bulgaria along with a 1-0 defeat at home to Finland – given their sharpened match fitness, with Robinson admitting he was only at 75% for those games, which were played before the English season began.
It may take Ireland all the way to a play-off final with either Bosnia or Northern Ireland next month, and blow away some of the country’s gathering gloom.
“Through these sad times at the moment, I would say football in general is keeping people healthy. You laugh and you think there’s no chance, but I know football is definitely helping people’s heads: being at home a lot at the moment and watching the games, obviously it makes them happy.
“On Thursday if we can get a win to put a smile on people’s faces, and winter is coming as well and that’s a bit of a downer with the virus so football is obviously a massive thing, and if we can get that win for the country that would be massive.”
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Callum Robinson euro 2020 play-off Here's to you Republic Of Ireland