Keith O'Neill, the Norwich City player, hopes to be in a position to reassure Mick McCarthy on at least one of his World Cup problems within the next week. O'Neill, now in the advanced stage of his recovery from a protracted injury, is hoping to play for the club's reserve team next Tuesday. Depending on his progress in that game, he could be headed for a return to Norwich's first XI the following weekend.

"The way I figure it, at the moment, is that I am almost certain to be available for selection for the game in Brussels and that I have an outside chance of being involved in the one at Lansdowne Road," O'Neill said yesterday.

"That, of course, is conditional on things going well for me next week, but I am optimistic. I was working on my own for some time, but now I'm able to join with the others. At last things are beginning to look up for me."

O'Neill, one of the brightest of the newcomers introduced by McCarthy, has played no more than 30 minutes of international football this year. That was in Macedonia last April when he came on as a half-time substitute, but failed to finish the game after aggravating a foot injury.

He was subsequently selected and withdrew from the international squad on several occasions, depriving the Ireland manager of a player who, by on his own admission, he rates highly.

McCarthy has never disguised his sense of loss about that and would dearly like to add O'Neill to his pool of front-line players for the Belgian fixture. "It doesn't need me to say that Keith is one of the most exciting young players around and we've certainly missed him on occasions," McCarthy said after hearing the news of O'Neill's possible return.

"If anybody had doubts about his value or his impact on the team then it's only necessary to look at the way our performance picked up during the brief period he was on the pitch in Macedonia." The other encouraging news for the Ireland manager is that Andy Townsend, his captain, is expected to play for Middlesbrough at the weekend. Townsend has been having treatment for a knee problem for the last 10 days, but is now able to run and turn without problems.

Not all of the injury worries are on Ireland's side. Georges Leekens, the Belgian manager, was forced to take on Wales last Saturday without the influential presence of Enzo Scifo.

A groin problem necessitated Scifo's withdrawal from the match, but the word from Brussels yesterday was that the player is making a satisfactory recovery. As promised, Mick McCarthy was in contact with his Welsh counterpart, Bobbie Gould, yesterday, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the Belgian team which twice defeated Wales in the World Cup preliminaries. Gould had some encouraging tidings for the Irish men.

"I told Mick that if Ireland adopt the right attitude, they can beat Belgium and go on to the finals," he said. "The Belgians can be impressive when going forward, but are not nearly as composed under pressure.

"We made a mistake, perhaps, of giving them too much respect and playing too cautiously last Saturday. But after going three goals down before half-time, we improved so much by changing the shape of our team that we should have got at least a draw.

"Despite what they say, they still have problems in countering the English type of game when the ball is knocked forward. That has always been a strong point in Ireland's performances and I think it will give Belgium quite a few problems over the two legs."

While the managers grappled with team problems, the officials of the respective associations were experiencing even greater difficulties in attempting to meet the ticket demands of both sets of supporters. An FAI spokesperson said yesterday that within an hour of the draw being made on Monday, telephone lines at their headquarters at Merrion Square had been jammed with calls.

"It's a bit like it was for the World Cup finals in 1990 and again in 1994 and as the match draws closer, it's going to get even worse. The bad news is that we're not going to be able to satisfy all or even most of the inquirers looking for tickets.

"Priority will be given to the 10year ticket holders and those regular patrons who block-book tickets. After that, tickets will be distributed to the various leagues and affiliates. Unfortunately, we're not going to be in a position to provide tickets for the general public."

Because of renovation work now being carried out at the King Baudouin Stadium, formally known as the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, the attendance ceiling there has been reduced from 54,000 to just over 34,000. It means that less than 3,500 tickets will be available to Irish fans hoping to see the game. And the initial indications from the travel trade in Ireland suggest that double that figure could be interested in travelling to Belgium for the game. "Even before prices have been structured, the interest is incredible," said a spokesman of a leading travel agents yesterday. "But obviously plane seats will have to be matched to the number of match tickets available."

It was confirmed yesterday that the kick-off time for the first leg game at Lansdowne Road on October 29th will be 7.30 p.m. The return match in the King Baudouin Stadium on November 15th starts at 7.00 p.m. time.