Soccer:Giovanni Trapattoni will be without Paul Green for the first World Cup 2014 qualifier against Kazakhstan on September 7th after the midfielder was ruled out for up to eight weeks with injury.
Tomorrow Trapattoni will name his squad for the trip east and a friendly against Oman at Craven Cottage four days later, but the Leeds United midfielder, who would have been expected to be among those selected if fit, will not be available to him.
Leeds manager Neil Warnock today said he hopes the knee injury that forced Green off during his league debut against Wolves last weekend would only sideline him for a month but fears it could be October before he is back in action.
“It’s looking like a grade two strain or a tear,” he said. “We’re hoping four or six weeks, but it could be eight weeks. I had the dreaded feeling with it being his knee. He had a good pre-season and it’s a blow to us, but he’s a good healer so with a bit of luck it might not be as bad. It’s very difficult to replace him with the way he was playing, but we know what we’ve got and we’ll get on. It gives the opportunity for someone else.”
Green, who signed for Leeds after being let go by Derby County during the summer, impressed for his new club during pre-season and in the first half last Saturday.
With Republic of Ireland central midfielder Keith Andrews suspended for the game in Astana next month, Green would have been option to deputise alongside Glenn Whelan, though James McCarthy gave a solid performance in that role in the scoreless draw with Serbia in Belgrade last week. Green played the last half an hour after replacing Whelan.
Darron Gibson, who withdrew from the squad with a thigh injury, returned to action for Everton on Monday and looked like he too will push hard for inclusion.
Nevertheless, with two weeks to go before Ireland’s first competitive game of a new campaign, Trapattoni can ill afford any more injuries to his midfield operators.
