Michael Keane Unable To Play For England U21s Against Wales After FA Register Twin Brother By Mistake

Chris Wright

7th, March 2014

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By Chris Wright

keane-twins

Twin trouble: Michael (left) and Will (right) Keane

Oopsy daisy. There were a few quizzically arched eyebrows in the terraces on Wednesday evening when Manchester United youngster Michael Keane failed to turn out for the England U21s against Wales at Pride Park as expected – leaving a few bemused fans wondering just what had happened to the 21-year-old defender in the hours before kick-off.

After snooping around, the Telegraph have sussed that Keane was barred from playing after the FA dropped a sizeable clanger before the game, accidentally registering Michael’s identical twin brother, Will, for the Wales game despite the on-loan QPR striker not actually being included in Gareth Southgate’s squad at all.

“We had an admin error so Michael wasn’t registered,” said Southgate. “I don’t know exactly why yet, it’s not one I’ve seen before.”

“I really feel for the lad (Keane) because he’s key to what we’re doing.”

Suddenly finding himself unable to field one of his first-choice centre-backs, Southgate press-ganged Nathaniel Chalobah into filling in as an emergency defender at the eleventh hour – though the U21s coach was thoroughly impressed as his cobbled-together back four ended up keeping a clean sheet as England pipped the game courtesy of a single goal from Nathan Redmond.