KILLYBEGS man Seamus Coleman has spoken of his pride in captaining his country against Germany last night.
The Everton player and his team were on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat in Cologne.
But he says the side is determined to win against Kazakhstan on Tuesday – for interim boss Noel King.
“It was very special (to be captain), it came as a shock really. Obviously Robbie Keane wasn’t playing so it was up for grabs I suppose. But I was delighted to get the honour and my family back home will be delighted. It’s what you want as a kid,” said Seamus.
“It’s a massive honour to lead your country. Robbie spoke to me before the game and just said, ‘Play your normal game.’ That’s what I did and I really enjoyed it.”
He’s hoping he might get to keep the captaincy when a new permanent manager is appointed.
“We’ll see. We’ve got a lot of leaders in the team and I’m sure you know Robbie will be about for a while yet. But if the opportunity came up and I was offered it, obviously I’d be delighted to take it,” he said.
On the match itself, the Donegal man said: “It was a tough night. Brilliant team, Germany, with world-class players. Obviously a disappointing scoreline but there was some positives. We had a couple of chances that we could have taken, but we didn’t tonight. Hopefully on Tuesday night we can take some of those chances.”
Looking forward to Tuesday he added: “For Noel, who’s come in for the two games, it would be nice to get a victory for him. As players as well, you want to win every game you take part in and hopefully we can on Tuesday night.