Noel King will get his chance to take charge of the Irish squad on the training ground for the first time this afternoon as the search for a permanent successor Giovanni Trapattoni is put on the back burner for a bit but the Dubliner will be without Jon Walters and Keiren Westwood for the games against Germany and Kazakhstan after the pair withdrew from the squad with injuries.
The loss of Walters was no great surprise with the Stoke City player having been a doubt due to a groin problem from even before King named his original squad of 26. The 30-year-old lasted just 24 hours in the slimmed down version the manager named on Saturday, though, with his club deciding that he wasn’t up to travelling yesterday when his fitness was assessed in the wake of the hour he played the previous day against Fulham.
Westwood’s absence is more of a surprise with Sunderland informing the association yesterday that he needs treatment on a shoulder complaint, the same injury that accounted for Darren Randolph on Saturday when Newcastle’s Rob Elliott was handed his first senior call up.
Stephen Henderson came in for Westwood yesterday while Paul Green, having been left out on Saturday, was back in the panel for Walters yesterday with the Leeds midfielder preferred to Paul McShane and Stephen Quinn, both of whom had also been placed on standby.
The bulk of the squad is not expected to train this afternoon although there will be one or two latecomers with Anthony Pilkington, for instance, due to stay on at Norwich for a little bit in order to complete his usual post match recovery following yesterday's game against Chelsea in which he scored.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (Squad for World Cup qualifiers against Germany and Kazakhstan): Forde (Millwall), Henderson (Bournemouth), Elliot (Newcastle); Coleman (Everton), Kelly (Reading), O'Brien (West Ham), Wilson (Stoke), Delaney (Crystal Palace), St Ledger (Leicester), Clark (Aston Villa); Gibson (Everton), Whelan (Stoke), McCarthy (Everton), Green (Leeds Utd), Reid (Nottingham Forest), McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Pilkington (Norwich), McClean (Wigan), Hoolahan (Norwich); Long (WBA), Keane (LA Galaxy), Doyle (Wolves), Stokes (Celtic).
