Ireland legends Kilbane and Keane sit down to discuss life in Hollywood, that goal against Germany at the 2002 World Cup and what went wrong at Inter Milan... plus who makes Robbie's best XI?

Former Republic of Ireland team-mates Kevin Kilbane and Robbie Keane were reunited in Dublin this week before Keane returns to his MLS club LA Galaxy after their winter break.



He has had surgery on both Achilles, spent time at home with wife Claudeen and four-year-old son Robert while continuing his rehab, getting on to the treadmill for the first time this week.



He took a break from his combined UEFA A and B Diploma course with the FAI to meet up at the Grand Hotel in Malahide, scene of numerous press conferences Keane has held as Ireland captain.



On this occasion his inquisitor was Sportsmail columnist Kilbane and they reminisced on the 2002 World Cup, Keane’s Ireland career, his many club moves and his future plans. Sportsmail's Colin Young bought the coffees (and a pint of black stuff).



Friends reunited: Sportsmail's Kevin Kilbane (right) met up with his former Republic of Ireland team-mate Robbie Keane (left) in Dublin this week

KEVIN KILBANE: Things have changed unbelievably from when we first started. Would you do anything differently in your Ireland career?

ROBBIE KEANE: Not the Irish career. I am not a player to have regrets. I should have stayed at certain clubs longer, but I don’t regret that because it was the right decision for me at that time.



With Ireland, I would qualify for a few more major tournaments, but for such a small nation we did well to even get to the play-offs.

KK: No one made a bigger impression on me than you did when you first came in to the squad at 17. You are the best player I have seen at that age. Did you know how good you were?

RK: I don’t think you ever realise how good you are.



When I first went to Wolves at 15 I was s******g myself thinking these players have been in the English club structure with all the training facilities since they were eight. And you have me training twice a week at Crumlin. I thought they would be way better than me.



But I quickly realised they weren’t and I was way of ahead of them. I just thought how can this be possible? Me, coming from Dublin.



No regrets: Keane, pictured here celebrating a goal against Latvia, says he wouldn't change anything about his international career with the Republic of Ireland

KK: You went very quickly into the first team and Ireland squad. Did your rawness help you?

RK: Definitely. Everything just came naturally. I went from youth team, Wolves debut at 17 in my second season, no reserve team football, and made my Ireland debut at 18. It was a quick progression in such a short space of time. I didn’t have time to think ‘oh what’s going on? Am I actually good?’



In the first training session with the first team, you know what it’s like, senior players always want to test the new kid, especially someone like me who tries to take the p***.



I did it to Keith Curle, captain of the club. The ball came in to me with pace, I dinked it over his head, he went flying, then I lobbed the goalkeeper. I turned round and I thought he was going to kill me. Honest to God you’d think I’ d murdered his mother. All the lads, you can imagine, are shouting and laughing and then for the whole session he was trying to smash me.



But, at that time, he just made me worse because I just wanted to take the p*** even more. From that first day I felt comfortable.



Confident: A 17-year-old Keane (left) squares up to Arsenal's Nigel Winterburn in the 1998 FA Cup semi-final

KK: We’ve both seen young Irish lads come into our clubs and not make it. Why do you think that is?

RK: Every ex-player I meet says the exact same thing to me 'I wish I had given it longer’.

Too many players get flights home when they have the opportunity because they’ re missing their mates and home, then they go back into that environment and get comfortable.



It’s hard but you have to give it time and see it out for that first three to six months. I was the opposite. I’d go home if I had to but my family came to see me.



The League of Ireland has still proved a good route for many lads to get into the Ireland squad but even then English teams look and say `why was he released?’ which is wrong.



KK: There were real Irish legends when we came into the squad and I was in awe of some. It took me two or three years before I felt I belonged. You never had that.

RK: I don’t have any fear. Of course going in you have butterflies, meeting certain players, but as soon as training started I felt at home. I respected them but the way I was, the cheekiness of me, and the way I played helped me.



When you look back, Mick would train with us, tackles flying in, that would never happen now. But I loved winding him up, trying to nutmeg him.



Faith: Keane excelled for his country under the guidance of former manager Mick McCarthy, pictured here during a training session in August 2000

KK: We haven’t had anyone who has come in since you who has gone ‘bang’ from day one.



RK: People got more opportunities then. The way the league is going in England is not helping. The English FA are complaining there’s not enough English players in the Premier League. They’re struggling so along with Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, it will affect us even more.



England still have hundreds to choose in the Premier League and we don’t. We have a few but a lot of our players are in the Championship. When we started we were all in the Premier League.



I don’t think Irish players will get opportunities. I don’t think you will see a 17-year-old Irish kid for a good few years.



There are too many coming from different countries. When we started, foreign players were in the minority. All the best players from Spain, France, Brazil, Argentina are going to England. And Ireland is bound to suffer.



Big future: Everton right-back Seamus Coleman is one of the Republic's rising stars after learning his trade with Irish side Sligo Rovers

KK: I thought after the World Cup, we would be very good for a long time and would qualify for tournaments.



RK: I agree, the way we were, how we played, how well we did with everything going on and how we handled it afterwards, I did think we should have done better.



But we were so close so many times, and there was always going to be a period because we are a small nation, and don’t produce players regularly, when it would be difficult.



Overall we were unlucky. If I finish tomorrow and look back on this 15 years, I’ d say `you know what, that wasn’t bad’.

KK: And of course you have come through this with Dunney, one of the most under-appreciated players I’ve played with.



Underrated: Keane believes QPR defender Richard Dunne is one of Ireland's best ever players

RK: Me and Richie are best of buddies but players who played with him appreciated him. He is quiet, keeps his head down, doesn’t get involved. That performance against Russia was the best I have ever seen in an Ireland shirt.



It’s amazing two lads who played against each other from Under 12s, literally round the corner from each other in Tallaght, went on to play in the Premier League and for Ireland.



KK: So how long can you carry on playing?

RK: I don’t really know but I feel in great condition after the operations on both Achilles.



The press keep asking me but I will stop when I stop scoring. The problem is football is very ageist. When you reach 30, they keep talking about your age.



When I started it was normal for a 32 year old to retire bur Giggs, Scholes, Phillips have played on, shown it can be done.



With diets, looking after yourself, introduction of science that we never have it is a different game now. Players are different, managers use players differently.



But do I feel any different to how I felt seven years ago? No, I honestly don’t.



KK: Have you adapted your game?

RK: When you’re younger you run everywhere trying to get on the ball. You look at the roles for Ireland and LA Galaxy and you see two different players.



In Ireland they rely on me to score goals so I play higher up and play off say Shane Long, getting in behind off the long ball.



In Galaxy I come into midfield, get on the ball, pass it, playing as a Number 10 like I did with Spurs which I have never really played with Ireland.



We don’t get 80 per cent possession, we play a different game so chances are very limited and when you do get them you have to take them and I won’t get those playing in midfield.



Danger man: Keane is enjoying his spell with LA Galaxy in the MLS after joining from Tottenham in 2011

KK: That’s what makes your 59 Ireland goals so amazing.



RK (in a nanosecond): Hold on Kev, 62. You’re having a laugh aren’t you?

KK (laughing): I knew I’d get you. I said I would wind you up.

RK: Not that I’m counting or anything.



KK: It is a remarkable record.



RK: I don’t think of it but when people mention other players like Ronaldo having 62 goals, that’s when it hits home. I am always looking at the next one.



KK: After we played France I remember you told me you wanted to get 50 goals.



RK: You have to set targets. The day you don’t believe you are going to score, is when you’re finished. When I got to 30, it was get to 40, got 40 get to 50. Now I’ve got 62 and I want to keep going.



People might have looked at me going to Galaxy and thinking he’s finished now. But since I moved to LA I’ve scored more for Ireland in these last two years than I did previously in the same time at Liverpool Tottenham, wherever.



Goal hungry: Keane scores for Tottenham against fierce rivals Arsenal in a Carling Cup tie in September 2010

KK: Did you see the move to LA Galaxy as a winding down?

RK: Definitely not. I spoke to Becks and he said don’t think it’s that type of league.



KK: More pressure to produce?

RK: More pressure for me. Three roster players have to produce all the time and the lads there rely on you and look to you when it’s not going well to score or create a goal, change the game, get it by the scruff of the neck. No one talks about our right back or left back.



If I’m playing for Tottenham, there’s 18 players the same or similar. There, because of what you’re getting paid with the wages structure, everything is about you. Yhe press want you all the time and you are the face of the team, that brings pressure.



KK: A lot of players would struggle with that. Defoe has to go out there and get 20 goals a year and produce.



RK: They are reliant on him to score and they look at what he is getting paid, which is normal over there, and there comes expectations with those wages.



Under pressure: Jermain Defoe (left) will be expected to bang in the goals for Toronto after signing for the MLS club along with Michael Bradley (right)

Wise words: Keane spoke to David Beckham (left) before taking the plunge and leaving the Premier League for a move to the MLS

KK: Best moment of your Ireland career?

RK: Has to be the World Cup. We play to play in big tournaments. There has been great moments in big games but Germany stands out. One day you are playing World Cup teams in the street with your mates and seven years later you are doing it for real and scoring in front of 20,000 Irish fans in Japan. For any kid, how can it get any better?

KK: How much did the Euros hurt then?

RK: It was a huge disappointment. We all watched Ray Houghton scoring in the Euros, Niall Quinn scoring against Holland and to go there and play as poorly as we did was hard to take.



But we played the best teams in the tournament, two got to the final so it was always going to be tough.



Over the years no matter who we played Ireland were always hard to beat and in the Euros we weren’t. We played teams who play the modern way and we struggled.



Magic moment: Keane counts his last minute goal against Germany in the 2002 World Cup as his career highlight

KK: Do you think you could have made more of a success at Inter Milan.



RK: I was probably too young when I went. If I’d gone later it would have suited me playing in that hole. But do I regret it? I honestly don’t. It was an unbelievable experience people ask me about, living there, learning the language, playing in Italy. It was a good learning curve for me to understand the game for when I came back.



I wanted to come back. Every club if I am not playing, I leave because I want to play football. All I wanted to do since I was a kid is play football and if I wasn’t at a club I’d be playing with my mates on a Sunday. I still come home and play five-a-side with my mates.



I get paid to play football, not to sit on the bench, I don’t enjoy that. Over the years loads of players have been very happy to do that and pick up their money. That used to really wind me up.



It would get to a point where I’d say enough is enough. For me preparing during the week for a weekend is what it is all about.



Too young: Keane moved to Italian giants Inter Milan in a £13million deal when he was just 20 but quickly returned to English football with Leeds United

KK: One highlight at Spurs must have been winning the League Cup. It is so hard to win a trophy.



RK: You saw my reaction after the game. I was at Tottenham for so long, went there as the club was trying to make an impact and it took five years to get to a decent level.



Having gone through that struggle and built a strong squad who teams didn’t like to play against, to lift the trophy with Ledley meant a huge amount to me. And to the Tottenham fans, beating Chelsea in Wembley. For me it was the highlight.



KK: Was that period playing with Berbatov the most enjoyable of your club career?

RK: Yes, particularly playing with Berbatov. He was brilliant. We just clicked straight away. Clever footballer, we played similarly because he’d come short, I’d go long and vice versa and we mixed it up. For me, it was the best partnership I had.



Deadly duo: Keane counts his striker partnership with Dimitar Berbatov at Tottenham as the best of his career

KK: And how good was Martin Jol?

RK: Very honest, very strong character, and funny. He’d have you in stitches in meetings with his stories. One day he pointed out the window to the field, and said ‘for me it is not about the money. I could burn two weeks wages out there today and come back, four weeks later, and my money is still burning.’



The lads related to him. I really enjoyed working with him and characters like him are missing. Even now, at my age, I love watching clips of Gazza when he was playing and doing daft things. People are frightened to say or do anything now.

KK: That’s why dressing rooms are so quiet.



RK: I shout at Galaxy team-mates and have a go and they don’t like it. At Wolves I would get hammered if I tried a flick and it didn’t come off. Hammer someone now and the manager will say `you can’t say that, be careful’. I don’t care. That’s the way I was brought up.



KK: You’re doing the coaching now. Obviously that’s the long term plan.



RK: I just want it for when I do finish playing but I have just signed a two year contract and hopefully will play beyond that.



I was apprehensive because you are out of your comfort zone but I was surprised when I got out there the first time and really enjoyed it.



When you are on the training pitch you see things and as soon as I got out there and saw the picture I was surprised.



It was a natural progression. What else am I going to do? I won’t go down the media road, I enjoy it out there every day too much.



I’ve been very vocal about ex-players being involved, we don’t see it enough in Ireland but it is starting to happen in England and hopefully with this FAI course, others will get involved.



Still going strong: Keane has no plans to retire after recently signing a new two-year contract at LA Galaxy

KK: How difficult was it for the family to settle over there?

RK: It’s Hollywood, what do you reckon?



I get asked this a lot but England was never my home. I had a home there but Dublin is my home so leaving Ireland was the hardest thing I had to do. Of course you have preferred places to live but moving doesn’t bother me.



Claudine and Robert took a while to settle but they love it now. Robert loves swimming and being on the beach as it's a great outdoors lifestyle and experience and an opportunity to experience a different lifestyle.



KK: Finally from me, exciting times for Ireland with Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane taking over.



RK: Martin was a manager you’d look at and think I’d like to play for him. There was talk of going to Aston Villa when he was manger but it didn’t happen and I didn’t think I’d get the opportunity.



Bringing in Roy back was a brilliant appointment. It was good for everybody to put that all behind us now because it has been going on for too long.



Like everyone else I thought it was a great appointment and every player should feel the same way.

You can’t get two bigger characters. They both have that respect about them and know how to get the best out of players. It’s exciting.

Exciting times: Keane is looking forward to playing under recently appointed Republic of Ireland duo Roy Keane (left) and Martin O'Neill (right)

Robbie's best XI

Goalkeeper: Shay Given



No 1: Keane classes his former international team-mate Shay Given as the best goalkeeper he has ever played with

Defence: Javier Zanetti, Richard Dunne, Ledley King, Gareth Bale

Talented: Inter Milan full-back Javier Zanetti (left) and Gareth Bale (right) make up half of Keane's best defence



Midfield: David Beckham, Roy Keane, Steven Gerrard, Damien Duff, Clarence Seedorf



Midfield dynamos: Keane played alongside Steven Gerrard (left) at Liverpool and Damien Duff (right) for Ireland



Striker: Dimitar Berbatov

Goals galore: Keane rates Dimitar Berbatov (right) as the best ever striker partner

Robbie's top five goals

Tottenham 3-2 Blackburn, Premier League, March 2006



At the double: Keane scores the first of his two goals against Blackburn after skillfully chipping the ball over Robbie Savage's head Republic of Ireland 1-1 Germany, World Cup, June 2002

Career highlight: Keane celebrates his last minute equaliser against Germany at the 2002 World Cup

Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal, Premier League, December 2008

Stunner: Keane scores a long-range volley for Liverpool against Arsenal, just a few weeks before returning to former club Tottenham T ottenham 4-4 Chelsea, Premier League, March 2008

Epic: Keane bends the ball beyond Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini to seal a memorable 4-4 draw at White Hart Lane

Wolves 5-0 Barnet, FA Cup, August 1998

Early days: Keane (middle) celebrates scoring his side's fourth goal against Barnet in a first round FA Cup tie

KILBANE PUTS TWITTER QUESTIONS TO KEANE

Kevin Kilbane: We asked for a few questions from people on Twitter.

Robbie Keane: I heard. My brother said Lee Carsley (@lecarso) wrote ‘ask him where did he get his nashers done?’ KK: One from @williesmalls3 said how disappointed were you having to wait for a cross from Kilbane?

RK: Biggest frustration of my career. Having a laugh: Keane joked that waiting for a cross from Kilbane was the biggest frustration of his career KK: The big one ‘which team did you support as a boy?’ because there have been so many. RK: People forget in Ireland you support Celtic and that’s it. Then for me, it was Liverpool. That’s the norm over here.

KK: @GaryStew1980 and @shane16dav. Asked him what happened at Liverpool with Rafa etc. And from @kelsomania. What's the biggest regret in your career? Was it not working out at Liverpool? RK: I should have stayed there another year. But the way I was treated there, I was hurt by it.

It took me a good few games to score, then I started scoring and got six in not many games and then I was just left out.

I scored two in a game and Benitez pulled me into his office with his videoman, who had never played football in his life. Benitez said I know scored two goals but you didn’t get man of the match. Every player knows when you play well and I did play well.

He said 'I want you to watch a few clips with the videoman', who had never played the game, then he left the room. And this fella is trying to show me how to make runs and my biggest thing is movement. He showed movement when I didn’t get the ball but didn’t show the movement which led to the two goals. He was winding me up so I just walked out, saying I can’t listen to this.

Tactically Benitez was very good, probably one of the best I’ve played with but I didn’t like the way he did that. I knew then the writing was on the wall and I knew I would be on the bench, but then I was left out of the squad totally just two weeks after getting two and going on a roll.

Disagreement: Keane believes his boss at Liverpool, Rafa Benitez (left), did not treat him fairly I should have stayed but I don’t regret it. We have all made good decisions, bad decisions but regret is a very strong word.

I don’t think people understand how much I love playing. They just look and say he is leaving again and moving there. But I left loads of clubs and took wage drops because I just wanted to play, It was never about money, ever. Money has never driven me on. If I wanted to leave a club I would take a wage drop just to play.

KK: @6Oakfield and @davemcpartlin do you not get the acclaim? You will go down as Ireland’s greatest player. RK: I don’t know. Look at Tottenham and the number of goals I scored. I am not too sure. If I was English would I be respected a bit more? Yes, I think so, that’s the truth.

Someone who plays in that Number 10 role in England scoring over 120 Premier League goals - not that I’m counting. If you asked people in England how many goals did Robbie Keane get? Would they know the answer? I’m not sure. Would they be surprised? Probably.

KK: From @JFRalph: What are your thoughts on Defoe going to Toronto? RK: They will be reliant on him to score goals and people will look at what he is getting paid, which is normal over there, and there comes expectations with those wages.

I’ve not spoken to him but we have the same agent who knows what it’s like. He has gone to a good general manager at Toronto, Tim Leiweke, a good friend of mine who’s moved there from Galaxy.







