SOCCER: After a relatively benign weekend of league action for the Republic of Ireland manager, Steve Staunton has made just one addition to his squad for the European Championship qualifiers against Cyprus and the Czech Republic, with Alan Quinn of Sheffield United added to the travelling party.
As of last night Staunton had not heard from any players with news of injuries picked up over the weekend, and the Louth man will have been relieved to see players such as Damien Duff, Steve Carr, Paddy Kenny and Richard Dunne come through 90 minutes of Premiership action without any apparent problems.
Kevin Kilbane, Clinton Morrison and Stephen Ireland started for Wigan and Manchester City, only to be replaced by their managers, but none was reported to have been injured, while Robbie Keane came on for the last 17 minutes of Tottenham's win over Portsmouth.
Aiden McGeady strengthened his case for inclusion in Saturday's starting line-up by scoring Celtic's winner against Falkirk, while Andy Reid played 78 minutes for Charlton before being replaced. Despite the Dubliner's progress since returning from injury, his club manager, Iain Dowie, told journalists after the game, as Staunton had done last week, that the midfielder would only be joining up with the Irish squad ahead of the Czech game.
Stephen Elliott's absence even from the bench for Sunderland's game against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday suggests he is likely to be officially withdrawn by Roy Keane, but Kevin Doyle again performed brightly as Reading maintained their bright start to the season with a 1-0 win over West Ham. Andy O'Brien once again failed to feature in Portsmouth's game yesterday.
Quinn's call up, meanwhile, was prompted by Staunton's lack of options in midfield, although it is surprising the Ireland manager has not also included the more experienced Lee Carsley.
The 27-year-old Sheffield United player was a fairly regular squad member under Brian Kerr but had appeared to slip down the pecking order somewhat under the new man.
He had a good season at club level last year as United won promotion to the Premiership, but Saturday's start against Middlesbrough was his first in the league this year, although he has been coming on late in games.
Carsley, on the other hand, has been a automatic choice for David Moyes since the summer and completed another solid 90 minutes for Everton on Saturday afternoon as the Merseyside club drew with Manchester City. His continued omission in what are clearly difficult times for the new manager seems more than a little odd.
As it happens, a handful of other eligible midfielders also had good weekends. James O'Connor and Alan Mahon found the net for Burnley as they beat Norwich City. Gary Doherty was sent off during the game and his side's defeat cost City manager Nigel Worthington his job afterwards.
Stephen McPhail was another to provide a timely reminder that he has hit form of late, with the Dubliner doing well in Cardiff City's midfield as the Championship leaders overran Mick McCarthy's Wolves in a game that ended in a 4-0 win for the Welsh outfit.
The squad are due to train for the first time tomorrow before departing for Cyprus on Wednesday afternoon.
Cyprus boss Angelos Anastasiadis, meanwhile, has recalled Olympiacos CFP striker Michalis Konstantinou to his squad for next Saturday's game. The manager has come in for considerable criticism since his side lost 6-1 to Slovakia last month and the return of Konstantinou, who has scored two Champions League goals this season, will be seen as a considerable boost to morale.
Wales manager John Toshack, who has been enduring rather similar problems to his Irish counterpart, yesterday called Craig Morgan and Aaron Davies into his squad for the home games against Slovakia and Cyprus.
Morgan replaces Robert Page, who unexpectedly retired from international football, while Davies, a 22-year-old winger, has been rewarded for a series of good performances for his club side over the past couple of months.
CYPRUS SQUAD: M Morphis (APOEL FC), A Giorgallides (AC Omonia); M Elia (APOEL FC), L Louka (Anorthosis Famagusta FC), G Theodotou (AC Omonia), L Lambrou (Anorthosis Famagusta FC), C Theophilou (Apollon Limassol FC), A Konstantinou (AEK Larnaca FC); M Satsias (APOEL FC), K Makrides (APOEL FC), C Michael (APOEL FC), E Aloneftis (Larissa FC), A Garpozis (FC Xanthi), K Charalampidis (PAOK FC), E Charalambous (PAOK FC); Y Okkas (Olympiacos CFP), N Alexandrou (Larissa FC), Y Yiasoumi (PAOK FC), M Konstantinou (Olympiacos CFP).
