International soccer:Steven Reid looks likely to miss tomorrow's friendly international against Brazil in Croke Park with caretaker manager Don Givens admitting that the player's knee injury is worse than had been anticipated when he arrived from Blackburn Rovers.

Republic of Ireland v Brazil Venue: Croke Park Kick-off: Tomorrow, 7.45pm On TV: Sky Sports 1 RTÉ Two (highlights 10.25)

The midfielder's continued absence would be a blow although it could hardly be construed as disrespectful to the 26-year-old to suggest that the visitors suffered rather more significant losses yesterday. Neither World Player of the Year Kaka nor his remarkably gifted young Milan team-mate, Alexandre Pato, will be joining up with the Brazil squad after sustaining injuries in their 1-0 win at Fiorentina at the weekend.

Pato scored the game's only goal - a fine strike that further underlined the extent of his talent - but later picked up a serious ankle injury that may leave him sidelined for some time.

Kaka, meanwhile, took a slight knock to the knee but has been withdrawn by his club as a precaution.

With one of the pair approaching what should be the height of his powers and the other perhaps the most exciting of an impressive group of youngsters currently being groomed for an assault on the Olympics, the withdrawals take a bit of the sparkle off tomorrow night's game but Givens believes that the range of talent available to his opposite number, Dunga, means the home side's task has not been made significantly easier.

"In some ways," he says, "it's disappointing because I'm sure the public would have liked to see Kaka, he's a top player in the world. But they (the Brazilians) can replace players like that with others of very high quality. It would need a lot to happen for them to be weakened as a team. Brazil are Brazil, with or without Kaka."

"But," he added, "we've got players who can give Brazil problems too. We have no complex about that."

Dunga has called up 23-year-old Bobo, a striker from the Besiktas club in Turkey, for the first time as well as Werder Bremen midfielder Diego who has 22 full caps.

Among the home side's most potent threats should be Robbie Keane and Damien Duff, both of whom are likely to start tomorrow night.

The Tottenham striker came through training yesterday without any apparent difficulties despite carrying a slight ankle problem in the wake of his club's game against Manchester United on Saturday.

Duff, like his Newcastle team-mate Shay Given, was rested having played the previous afternoon, but both are said to be fine and should take a full part in training at Croke Park today.

Givens, meanwhile, admitted that he had not been able to contact Andy O'Brien to obtain confirmation that the defender has retired from international football.

The 28-year-old is reported to have written a letter to the FAI to convey his intentions but, as of yesterday, there was still no sign of it.

"I haven't been able to make contact with him," said Givens, "and haven't been informed that a letter from him to the FAI has arrived yet. I would still like to talk things through with Andy but in the meantime I've called up Alex Bruce."

Reid, he says, will be replaced too if he fails to prove his fitness this morning. One of those who may benefit from the withdrawal, though, is Wolves midfielder Darren Potter who would appreciate the opportunity to restore some of last year's momentum to his career trajectory with a run out against the Brazilians.

"Last year I think my club form was pretty strong and I was very happy with the way things were going," says the 23-year-old.

"But this season's been a little bit disappointing to be honest, I've had a few injuries and the whole thing has been a bit stop start.

"On the international front things really got going for me with the trip to America where I got a couple of starts and felt that it all went well. Since then, though, I've had to withdraw from the squads for a couple of qualifiers and, just like at Wolves it's been up and down. The priority this week is to get another start but obviously that's down to Don."

Potter is unfazed by the uncertainty surrounding the identity of Steve Staunton's successor but taken aback at the doubts that were cast over Mick McCarthy's position at Molineux in recent times.

"We had a spell there recently where we only won one out of eight and that seemed to spark all the speculation but I was still surprised by it," he says. "When Mick arrived last year I think we were favourites for relegation but he got us to the play-offs, I don't think anybody could have expected that at the start of the season. Things haven't gone so well recently but we're sitting in 11th place, only two or three points off the play-off places and having gotten a few players in during the window we'd still see ourselves as having a lot to play for."

Though there is not, on the face of it, anything at stake tomorrow night he says that the stakes would certainly be high on a personal level if he gets the chance to play.

"To play would be a big opportunity for me," he says, "but then it's a big opportunity for us all to play against a team like Brazil."