Injuries? MEH

March 25th, 2011 | by: Schwallacus | Comments Off

So apparently the injury bug has stricken the Irish team, as many players have some knocks and nags here and there, so the roster is definitely not set in stone.

♣From what I hear, Coleman has an injured ankle from the game this past weekend against Fulham.  The physios took a look at him and after a few days in Ireland, deemed him not fit enough to play in the two upcoming games, so he’s off the roster.  Duff also had an Achilles problem and sat out both Tuesday and Wednesday’s training, but did train with the team today, which is a good sign.

♣Dunne is expected to be fit after remaining with Aston Villa, where his shoulder was found to be okay.  I believe he trained with the squad today, so that’s a good sign, especially since we are going to be without O’Shea and possibly Sean St. Ledger as well.  This should open up a spot and the central part of our defense may be exploited depending on how Dunne’s shoulder is feeling when trying to win a ball.

♣Leon Best is also due to miss the game as he still has the same injury that kept him out of the Newcastle game.  At least we have Doyle, Keane, Long, and Walters for strikers, so we should be okay there.

♣Gibson is another added onto the list of players with knocks, but I believe he will be okay.

♣Onto some news that isn’t an injured body part, Trapattoni has said that another Irish youngling, this time James McCarthy, will make an appearance of some sort in the games ahead.  For more information on that, you can click here.  I like this as there are more and more Irishmen who are in their high teens and early twenties coming out and playing well for their clubs and now hoping to get their names onto the Irish National team.  We’ve had Long, Walters, Coleman, Clark, and now McCarthy coming up from playing good club ball and starting to get their names called on Trapp’s teams.  Let’s hope this young influx continues!!

Our opponent for the upcoming qualifier is FYR Macedonia.  Not exactly the best of histories with them, as they essentially knocked us out of  a top spot in our group for the EURO 2000 qualifiers.  We needed a win, but a tie to them led to a loss on the away goals rule against Turkey, knocking us out of the tournament.  Let’s get them back this time, and QUALIFY FOR THE EURO 2012!!!!!!!!