Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Robbie Keane (born July 8, 1980 in Tallaght,
Dublin) is an Republic of Ireland|Irish football
(soccer)|football player, who currently stars as a
striker for Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham
Hotspur and the Republic of Ireland national
football team|Republic of Ireland.

==Club career==
Keane started his football with South Dublin
schoolboy side, Crumlin United F.C. where his
talent was recognised at an early age. As an U-10
schoolboy he was paid 50p a goal,  and was soon
being watched by scouts from a number of English
professional clubs, including Premier League side
Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool. However, he turned down
Liverpool to join Wolverhampton Wanderers
F.C.|Wolves, reasoning that he had a greater
chance of breaking into the first team at the
First Division side. He made his first
professional appearance in 1997, and played at
Molineux stadium|Molineux for two seasons, making
88 appearances and scoring 29 goals, before a £6M
transfer to Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City in
1999, a then British record for a teenager. 

After a successful season at Coventry, where he
scored 12 goals in 34 games, he had become one of
the hottest properties in English football, and
was being courted by many of the biggest clubs in
football. In the end, he was signed by Marcello
Lippi of Internazionale for £13M, where he teamed
up with the likes of Ronaldo, Christian Vieri and
Alvaro Recoba. However his dream move to Italy
soured when Lippi was sacked soon after Keane
arrived, and Lippi's successor, Marco Tardelli
deemed Keane surplus to requirements. Keane's
ambition refused to let him stagnate in Italy, and
he was loaned out to Leeds United F.C.|Leeds
United in December 2000.

His Leeds career got off to a cracking start,
scoring 9 goals in 14 starts before the Leeds
manager, David O'Leary, made his loan deal became
permanent in May 2001 at a cost of £12M. The
following season was not so bright, and he found
himself dropping down the pecking order. His form
suffered and he only managed 10 goals in 36
appearances. Meanwhile, Leeds' financial troubles
were forcing the club to sell many of its players,
and Keane joined the exodus when he was sold to
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Spurs just before the
2002-2003|03 transfer deadline, where he still
plays.

Upon signing for Tottenham, the Spurs manager
Glenn Hoddle said Robbie was ideally suited to
Tottenham and could make White Hart Lane his
spiritual home for years to come. He repaid this
faith with some outstanding displays, earning the
club's Player of the Year award in his first two
seasons at Tottenham. He bagged 13 and 16 goals
respectively in those first two seasons for Spurs.
His third sesaon, 2004-2005, was more frustrating.
Despite finishing with his highest return of goals
in a season for Tottenham, 17, he played
second-fiddle to Jermaine Defoe for much of the
season, and it remains to be seen whether his
long-term future will be at Tottenham, or whether
this much-travelled young man will pack his bags
in search of greener pastures once more.

==International career==

For such a young man, Robbie Keane has already
achieved much in the international arena. 

He was part of the "golden generation" of Irish
youth football of the late 1990s. Under the
guidance of the current senior manager, Brian
Kerr, the unfancied Irish won the UEFA U-17 and
U-19 European championships in 1998, and Robbie
was part of the victorious U-19 side. In 1999, he
played at the Football World Youth
Championship|World Youth Cup in Nigeria, where the
Irish reached the quarter-finals before going out
on penalties to the hosts.

He made his first senior appearance for the
Republic of Ireland national football
team|Republic of Ireland against the Czech
Republic national football team|Czech Republic in
Olomouc in March 1998, scoring his first senior
goal against Malta national football team|Malta in
October that year.

Keane has recently become the Republic's top
goalscorer at international level; his 25 goals in
60 games (his most recent against Israel national
football team|Israel in June 2005) surpass Niall
Quinn's record of 21. Given that he is likely to
continue at the international level for many more
years, he is on track to set a record that will be
difficult to ever beat.

He had a brilliant Football World Cup 2002|2002
World Cup campaign in the Far East, scoring three
goals in Ireland's four games. His most famous
goal to date is arguably the injury-time equaliser
against Germany national football team|Germany in
the Football World Cup 2002|2002 World Cup,
although his last-minute equaliser against Spain
national football team|Spain from the penalty spot
was equally as dramatic.

In the current campaign (as at July 2005) to
qualify for the Football World Cup 2006|2006 World
Cup, Keane has scored four goals in Ireland's
seven matches. 

==Miscellaneous==

Robbie Keane is not related to Roy Keane, the
Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United team
captain and fellow Irish international player.

He has one of the more distinctive goal
celebrations in the modern game, running to one
side of the field to perform a round-off to a
front somersault on the pitch, ending on one knee,
and then miming a machine gun action. 

==Clubs==
*Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur (2002 -
)
*Leeds United F.C.|Leeds United (2001 - 2002)
*Leeds United (Loan; 2000 - 2001)
*Internazionale (2000 - 2001)
*Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City (1999 - 2000)
*Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.|Wolves (Trainee;
1997 - 1999)