McClean Left Out, Trapattoni Wants To See More Cox

Giovanni Trapattoni named his Ireland team to face Kazakhstan yesterday and once again chose to ignore James McClean's solid start to the season in favour of Nottingham Forest striker Simon Cox.

It had been intimated earlier in the week that McClean was going to get a start down the middle for the side, much to the delight of fans of the side. However, then rumour emerged that McClean was feeling unwell. This was quickly dismissed by the winger on his own Twitter account, where he also stressed he was looking forward to the game.

There's a great opportunity for McClean now Damien Duff has retired from international football, but for some reason Trapattoni certainly has his favourites. There can't be much footballing reason behind the decision.

There's better news for Keiren Westwood who will start in goal after being relatively unchallenged after Shay Given's retirement. John O'Shea will also start in the right back position.

There's no room however for David Meyler, who's more likely to get game time (possibly) when they face Oman next week.

Ireland XI To Face Kazakhstan Tonight

Keiren Westwood, John O'Shea, Darren O'Dea, Sean St. Ledger, Stephen Ward, Glenn Whelan, James McCarthy, Aiden McGeady, Simon Cox, Robbie Keane, Jonathan Walters

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There'll be a report on how every Sunderland player in action did over the international break on the site on Saturday afternoon, plus another one next week for the midweek games.