Keane proves his true worth

IRELAND: Robbie Keane put his domestic troubles aside and scored a spectacular goal to justify the faith shown in him by Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy. It came nine minutes after the break and put the Republic firmly in control and on their way to a comfortable victory over Denmark, after Ian Harte had headed them into a deserved 19th-minute lead at Lansdowne Road.

Clinton Morrison then sealed an impressive 3-0 win with a thoroughly deserved goal in injury time to celebrate his first full cap.

VILLA: Aston Villa have sealed the signing of Portsmouth striker Peter Crouch for an initial fee of £5m.

Crouch, who earned his first England Under-21s call-up in Tuesday's 1-1 draw against Italy at Valley Parade, was given permission to talk to the Barclaycard Premiership club by new Pompey boss Harry Redknapp. The 6ft 7in forward has scored 19 goals for Portsmouth this season since his summer arrival from Queens Park Rangers.

A Portsmouth statement read: ''The club is, of course, extremely sad to be losing Peter but could not really stand in his way of joining such a big club in the Premiership and with the prospect of European football on the horizon."

JAAP STAM: Manchester United are confident Lazio will pay the outstanding balance on Jaap Stam's transfer fee after reporting the Italian side to FIFA for missing an instalment. United have brought in world football's governing body after the Serie A side defaulted on a £3m instalment of the £16.5m fee for Stam, who moved to Rome at the start of the season. Lazio are experiencing financial difficulties this season, but United do not expect any further problems with the payment of the remainder of the fee. United's director of communications Paddy Harverson said: ''They were late on an instalment and so we have taken it up with FIFA.

''But we're confident that Lazio will pay us our money.''

This is not the first time United have had to report a foreign club to FIFA over missed transfer fee payments.