Republic of Ireland-USA Preview: O’Neill to test new recruits at Aviva Stadium

Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill is set to give new recruits Cyrus Christie and David McGoldrick a chance to prove themselves as the Boys in Green host the USA at the Aviva Stadium.

O’Neill’s side come into the end-of-year friendly against Jurgen Klinsmann’s team having suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat against Scotland in their Euro 2016 qualifier at Celtic Park last Friday.

Derby County defender Christie and Ipswich Town striker McGoldrick will earn their first cap for the country after the English-born duo declared their allegiance to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and O’Neill suggested that the pair “might make a difference” to the team over the course of the qualification campaign.

“The next game against Poland is not until March and we don’t play Scotland again until June, which seems a lifetime away,” O’Neill told reporters. “I’d love to be playing Scotland again next week but we can’t undo those things. But we can play better, and I think we can do and will do.

“A very important issue is that you never know who’ll be fit at that time. We might have everyone available, we might not. I remember saying way back at the beginning that the team that started the opening game might not be the team that takes us to France, if we can get to France.

“But Christie and McGoldrick might make a difference and might give us a lift.”

Ireland will be without the services of injured duo James McCarthy and Glenn Whelan, while Robbie Keane and Darron Gibson have been released from the squad in order to return to their clubs.

USA, meanwhile, also come into the tie having tasted defeat in their last game against Colombia, which they lost 2-1. Speaking ahead of the clash, USA head coach Jurgen Klinsmann indicated that he wants his team to “improve” and says that playing teams such as Colombia and Ireland are “benchmarks” of quality.

“We were very pleased with the World Cup, even if we thought that we could have gone a little bit further,” Klinsmann told reporters. “We want to improve another couple of steps and hopefully go further in the next World Cup, and that process has pretty much started already.

“What we are trying to do in our process is realise how the best teams in the world play the game, and how one day we can really compete with them and beat them. So what does it take to beat a Germany, or what does it take to beat a Spain, Brazil or Argentina? They set the tone.

“We can make it easy and play every game at home, and choose nations that we might have the advantage, but then I am not developing this programme, and not getting this team to another level.

“We need those benchmarks of playing Colombia, playing here in Ireland, playing next summer in Europe, and going down to South America. We need those experiences in order for them to get better and prepare them for the real big tournaments.”