Matt Holland, the Ipswich Town captain, is struggling to be ready for the Republic of Ireland's opening World Cup qualifying game against The Netherlands in Amsterdam tomorrow week.

Holland, who illustrated his claims for promotion with some convincing performances during the end-of-season programme, was forced to depart early from his club's game against Manchester United on Tuesday because of an ankle injury.

Now he fears he will have to miss tomorrow's meeting with Sunderland. "My ankle is still very swollen and discoloured and I think I will struggle for the Sunderland game," he said. "But with more than a week to go to the international match I'm still hopeful that I can make it.

"I have informed Mick McCarthy of the situation and now it's a case of waiting and watching if the injury responds to treatment."

There was a second, potentially more worrying, development for McCarthy when Gary Breen was replaced during Coventry City's game against Middlesbrough last Saturday after complaining of double vision. There was no obvious reason for the problem and both Breen and the Coventry City manager Gordon Strachan were sufficiently concerned to rule him out of the meeting with Southampton on Wednesday.

"It happened once before, in the game against the US in Boston in June," he said. "But it was pretty close to the final whistle and I stayed on the pitch to the end. Then, it just cleared in a matter of minutes. I went for tests last Tuesday and I hope to have the results tomorrow. I've been told it could be a migraine problem but at this point I'm still aiming to be in Amsterdam with Ireland."

It's an additional scare which McCarthy could have done without after losing his other central defender Kenny Cunningham through injury. In this instance, the hope is that there will be a favourable outcome.