NORTHERN IRELAND: The Irish Football Association have taken the unusual step of invoking FIFA's four-day rule after a spate of withdrawals from the Northern Ireland squad.
Paul McVeigh, George McCartney, Steve Jones, Danny Sonner and Gary Hamilton have all pulled out of the World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan in Baku on Saturday.
The five players are now ineligible to feature for the clubs either four days before or four days after the international fixture following the IFA's stance.
Northern Ireland assistant manager Gerry Armstrong said: "We have invoked the rule to try and make sure we get the players we need.
"If someone phones up and says they have an injury, how do we know they have an injury for sure.
"Time and time again two or three days after an international players are suddenly available for their clubs.
"It has got to be fair all ways for Northern Ireland and the clubs."
Page forced home
WALES: Manager Mark Hughes's injury problems continue ahead of Saturday's Group Six clash with England at Old Trafford.
Robert Page has returned to his club, Cardiff, City for treatment on cracked ribs, and will miss both Saturday's game and the match against Poland the following Wednesday.
So too will Nottingham Forest's Gareth Taylor, who has cartilage problems.
West Brom's Andy Johnson, who would have been a candidate to replace the suspended Robbie Savage, has back trouble while Rhys Weston is struggling with a hamstring problem.
Jason Koumas, who has been suffering with an ankle injury, has done only light training so far this week.
Hughes gets call-up
SCOTLAND: Coach Bertie Vogts has added Portsmouth midfielder Richard Hughes to his squad for the Group Five qualifiers against Norway and Moldova.
Yesterday's move comes on a day Vogts said three unspecified players faced fitness tests as Scotland battle with absentees. Vogts, whose side are at home to Norway on Saturday and away to Moldova the following Wednesday, is already missing four players.
Iraq fancy being hosts
WORLD CUP 2014: Talks have taken place between the Iraqi FA and its Jordanian counterpart about a joint attempt to stage the World Cup finals, Crown Prince Feisal al-Hussein of Jordan has revealed."A lot depends on what the region is going to look like in four or five years," said Prince Feisal. "The situation at the moment would make any bid ludicrous, but the next bid for the World Cup is in three or four years. By then, hopefully, things will have improved dramatically."
