The question of whether the Republic of Ireland is involved in Scotland's bid to host the European Championship in 2008 now looks likely to be decided by a meeting of the Scottish Cabinet over the next couple of weeks.

Members of the FAI's board of management were told yesterday that the association is still waiting to hear back from the Scottish FA as to whether or not it wishes to make a joint bid. The mood of the meeting was reported to be broadly supportive of getting involved as long as the Irish government makes the required commitments in terms of facilities but with the Scots apparently increasingly keen to go it alone, the issue ultimately looks set to be resolved by the Scottish authorities who must decide, probably on the 23rd of this month, whether to provide the estimated £150 million required to fund a solo bid.

"People here remain positive about it," said one club representative to yesterday's meeting, "but it does look like the SFA really want to do their own thing so it may not end up mattering too much one way or the other what happens at this end."

Opinion in Scotland on how best to proceed with the bid is now deeply divided with Simon Lyons, the Irish-born director of the bid campaign, strongly advocating a solo bid in an article in a Sunday newspaper at the weekend.

But the Scottish Executive's minister for tourism, culture and sport, Mike Wilson, insisted that the cabinet would "need to go over all the figures, look at the potential outlays and benefits," before taking a decision later this month. He subsequently confirmed that staff at his department have held extensive talks with their Irish counterparts about a joint bid.

Last night, however, Lyons maintained that the joint bid remains a distinct possibility, remarking that "nothing has changed here, our view is that the joint bid would be very good and would stand a good chance of winning but we stand a better chance if we go it alone."

He admitted that the schedule laid down by UEFA for bids would leave both associations a great deal of work to do in the event that a joint bid is agreed and conceded that the looming general election here might prove a problem but insisted that nothing had changed since he met with FAI and Irish government officials before Christmas.

The FAI, meanwhile, have finally confirmed that it is the USA who will visit Dublin on April 17th for a friendly international. Argentina had originally been pencilled in as potential opponents.