SOCCER:SPARTAK MOSCOW winger Aiden McGeady is out of this month's Carling Nations Cup games against Northern Ireland and Scotland after his club informed the FAI that they would require the player for their league fixture against Zenit St Petersburg on Sunday May 29th, the concluding night of the international tournament in Dublin.

A spokesman for the association confirmed that Giovanni Trapattoni has spoken with the Russian club and agreed to facilitate them.

As the dates involved are not official Fifa international dates, Spartak are not obliged to release McGeady. He is now expected to join Trapattoni’s squad in time for the European Championship qualifier in Skopje on June 4th.

Meanwhile, Ciaran Clark is the latest injury doubt for Trapattoni with the Aston Villa defender withdrawn from the squad for today’s game against Wigan Athletic after pulling up with a hamstring problem in training yesterday.

The loss of the young defender would be a significant blow to Trapattoni who is already without Richard Dunne for the Macedonia game due to suspension and has in jury doubts over Sean St Ledger and Darren O’Dea.

There is some brighter news on the goalkeeping front in the wake of Keiren Westwood’s withdrawal with Ipswich boss Paul Jewel suggesting yesterday that Brian Murphy could play his first senior game for the club since breaking his ankle before Christmas.

Reading defender Alex Pearce said he is hoping to get a call-up from Trapattoni but insisted his focus is currently on winning promotion through the Championship play-offs with his club.

“If I had to choose between Scotland and Ireland , I would choose Ireland”, said Pearce who qualifies thanks to an Irish grandmother.

“There’s been a few whispers, but I’ve been focusing on my club football. If it came along, that would be great.”