Soccer:Wayne Rooney is among a number of Manchester United stars likely to feature in Wednesday night's game against an Airtricity League XI in the new Aviva Stadium where John O'Shea is set to wear the captain's armband for the Red Devils.
Manager Alex Ferguson confirmed four World Cup players, including Rooney, Michael Carrick, Ji-sung Park and Nemanja Vidic plus Antonio Valencia, who returns to action after an ankle injury, will be in the squad for the friendly to mark the first soccer match in the new stadium.
The quintet missed United’s tour of North America and the subsequent friendly in Mexico and Wednesday's game could mark their first club appearance of the summer.
"Rooney, Park, Carrick and Vidic are back in training and are doing well," said Ferguson on United’s official website www.manutd.com. "Valencia is also training well and needs a game. All of them will be involved and Chicharito will also be part of the squad."
Ferguson confirmed two of his Republic of Ireland internationals, O’Shea and Darron Gibson, will play. "Yes, they deserve to, and O'Shea will probably be captain."
"It looks fantastic, it is spectacular," added the Scot in reference to the new stadium. "This is a great way to recognise the relationship we have, which goes back many, many years, to the days of Johnny Carey. We have had some fantastic players from Ireland."
The friendly against Damien Richardson’s side comes just four days before United take on Chelsea in the Community Shield at Wembley. Their Premier League campaign gets under way against Newcastle on Monday, August 16th.
Wednesday’s game has a 7.45pm kick-off and will be shown live on RTÉ.