Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/602829
maltatoday, Wednesday, 18 november 2015 20 Sport SPORTTODAY football Moyes 'disappointed' at Sociedad sacking DaviD Moyes has expressed dis- appointment at being sacked by Real Sociedad last week and said he had been confident of "finish- ing in a strong position" in La Liga this season. The former Manchester United and Everton manager's bid to res- urrect his career in Spain ended in failure when Sociedad rescinded his contract following a defeat at Las Palmas which left the Basque club hovering just above the rel- egation places. Moyes, 52, who was sacked by United in april 2014, was replaced by former Celta vigo and Barcelo- na B coach Eusebio Sacristan with the team in similar dire straits to when the Scot took over a year ago. in his first public comments since he was dismissed, Moyes said he regretted not being able to see out his contract, which ran until the end of the season. He said he had "turned down a number of job opportunities in re- cent months" without specifying what they were. "When i accepted the job as manager of La Real last Novem- ber, my remit was to avoid relega- tion and retain the club's La Liga status," Moyes said in a statement published by the League Managers association (LMa) on Tuesday. "We succeeded in attaining that target and finished 12th in the ta- ble," he added. "i feel that we made significant progress last season. Despite some positive performances from our team, results have not gone our way in recent weeks. "However, i was confident we would finish in a strong position by the end of the season." Moyes was considered a risky appointment by some in Spain be- cause of his limited knowledge of La Liga and inability to speak the language, and he was criticised for not making more of an effort to learn Spanish. He said he felt he had learned from working outside England. "after spending 12 years in the Premier League as manager of Everton and Manchester United, i was keen to take the opportunity to work abroad and have learnt a great deal from the experience," he said. David Moyes Robbie Keane praises Ireland squad after securing Euro 2016 berth REPUBLiC of ireland skipper Robbie Keane has praised the collective ef- fort of the squad after they clinched a place at the Euro 2016 finals. Robbie Brady claimed the headlines with his goal in the 1-1 first-leg draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Jonath- an Walters was the hero in the return with both goals at the aviva Stadium, but Keane was quick to praise all those who had contributed to quali- fication. The 35-year-old, who was on the bench for the final two games of the campaign, said: "Full credit to the whole squad. "i'm very, very proud to be irish and of the players who are here and the players who are not here also. The players who have contributed as well, the Shays, the Stephen Quinns, Paul McShanes, people like that who have been here from the start. "it's a shame they are not here to celebrate." Keane was in the ireland team who suffered the heartache of World Cup play-off defeat in France in 2009 when Thierry Henry's handball cost the visitors dearly. Six years on, it was ireland who got the benefit of a ques- tionable decision when Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers harshly ruled that Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Ervin Zukanovic had handled Daryl Murphy's cross, and in Keane's absence, Wal- ters duly obliged from the spot to send the home side on their way. The La Galaxy striker said: "Listen, we got lucky, certainly, with the penalty. in the first half, we didn't create too many chances, but we kept going. But what we did at times, we did very, very well. "i thought Jonny Walters was great again. He got two goals he certainly deserved. He's been fantastic in this whole cam- paign." The tie remained in the balance until Walters volleyed home a second 20 minutes from time from Brady's free-kick after the Norwich winger, who was once again em- ployed at left-back, had failed to make the most of a series of earlier set-pieces. Brady said: "i fancied it despite the 10 bru- tal ones i had before that. i knew i had to get one right. i'm just glad Jonny stuck with me. "We had a chat about where i wanted him to go when i was hitting it and he stuck with me, to be fair, and got on the end of it and put away the second goal excellently. "One out of 10 is not great, but when it means as much as that, i'll take it all day. it was just a special night. You grow up dreaming of these type of moments. it's a bit of a cliche, but you really do. "This has always been my dream, to play in front of an irish support as good as to- night. You don't want to let anyone down and it would have been an awful shame with the results that we picked up to let everyone down. i'm happy for everyone in- volved - bring on France." Robbie Kean