Soccer

By Cathal Dervan HAVING watched Sunderland produce an impressive pre-season victory over top Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon on Sunday afternoon, Cathal Dervan believes that manager Roy Keane will need to delve intelligently into the transfer market if the Black Cats are to survive another year in the Premier League. The Sunderland players preparing for the new Premier League season in the heat of Portugal"s Algarve ran into a bit of a problem in the middle of Sunday afternoon just past. As the sun fried any eggs left on the sidewalk and those of a certain vintage thought of Sally O"Brien and the way she might look at you, Roy Keane"s team were holed up in an Albufeira hotel. From their balconies they could look right into the Municipal Stadium below them that was to host their opening game of the season against Sporting Lisbon later that night but just after 3 o"clock on Sunday they had other things on their mind. Golf fanatic Led by golf fanatic Graham Kavanagh, they really wanted to see the final and concluding round of the British Open as Padraig Harrington looked to retain his first Major. For the first six holes of Harrington"s dramatic last round, the Sunderland players were able to keep tabs on Stackstown"s finest thanks to the live broadcast on the local Sport TV channel, the Portuguese equivalent of Sky Sports or Setanta. Then, with Harrington just ahead of overnight leader Greg Norman, the screens in their four star hotel suddenly switched to a live broadcast of a game of football between Real Madrid and Benfica, beach football to be precise. The Sunderland players were not happy campers, even in such Algarve luxury. Alas there was nothing they could do about it but grin and bear it until the beach football expired and Sport TV switched back to Royal Birkdale. Back in control By the time the pictures from Liverpool were live again in Portugal, Harrington was on the 16th green and back in control of the tournament he went on to win once more in such outstanding style. Kavanagh, the Irish international who wants to stay and impress manager Keane in the final year of his Sunderland contract, led the applause as Harrington hit that miraculous five wood to set up the 17th hole eagle that would ultimately prove to be the winning shot. Later that night, after Sunderland had managed something of a turnaround of their own in the season opening 3-1 win over Sporting, Kavanagh told me deep in the bowels of Albufeira"s Municipal Stadium just how proud he was to see a fellow Dub win the British Open. He also admitted that he had no idea what to expect when his television screen switched back to the live golf after a live beach soccer broadcast lasting over an hour. Ever the optimist he wanted to see Harrington in a commanding position when the live transmission resumed but Kav, a decent golfer himself, knew there could be no guarantees. As it happened the greatest Irish golfer of his generation didn"t let Kavanagh down but Sunderland fans will know how Kav felt as he waited for the golf to come back on. Events later on Sunday night proved that those who swear they are "Sunderland Till I Die" as they did throughout the Sporting game, are still in the dark as to where destiny will take their team this coming season. Niggly friendlies To be fair they did beat one of Portugal"s best club sides 3-1 in one of those games of two halves when the North-East outfit were much, much better after the half-time break than they were before it in a turgid opening 45 minutes. The headline writers even had something of a field day with Michael Chopra"s harsh dismissal for an innocuous tackle and Roy Keane"s harsher dismissal to the stands for exchanging words with the fourth official. By the end of the night, thanks to a promising second-half performance from young Irish striker Anthony Stokes, Sunderland were well worth the win that saw stand-in captain Nyron Nosworthy receive a rather large silver Cup in honour of their Algarve victory. Keane wasn"t on the pitch when the presentation was made. He was still licking his wounds in the stands and even took umbrage half an hour later when a local journalist asked him what he had said to the fourth official. What"s certain is that Keane saw enough in the time he was on the bench and the time he spent in the stands to know that Sunderland"s immediate Premier League future is unclear right now. He arrived late in the Algarve, staying at home in a bid to persuade the likes of Chimbonda, Kaboul and Malbranque to swap Tottenham for Sunderland and even though Sunday night was the first outing of the new season there was clear evidence to suggest Keane"s squad needs an injection of some real Premier League class. Maintain premier status Staying in the PL last season was a major achievement for the manager and his players but to stay there this time, to kick on from last term"s survival, will take a mammoth effort and a major improvement. The weeks between now and the start of the season, when Sunderland play Liverpool in front of the Setanta cameras again, are going to be crucial for manager and team. Keane must land players and he must land quality in the coming weeks if Sunderland aren"t going to throw away Premier League survival as quickly as they found it. Sunday night was a start and the training camp in Portugal is geared towards getting his players ready for that Liverpool game in August but Keane"s real work will come away from the Algarve and away from next week"s friendly games in Cobh, Nottingham Forest and Athlone. His real work will come in the market place. Need striker How he performs as a manager in the transfer market is going to be more intriguing and more decisive that any performance from Keane the player in the heat of battle. On the evidence of one game, albeit a pre-season friendly on a Sunday night in a holiday haven, Sunderland need a striker, a right-back, a central defender and at least one creative midfielder if they are to build on last season. More than anything right now they need a manager who can find those four crucial signings between now and the middle of August. Sunday night in Albufeira just proved it.