Robbie Keane's role in this evening's European championship qualifying game against Croatia in Zagreb's Maksimir Stadium (kick-off: 7.30; TV3) remains undefined following Mick McCarthy's decision to defer the announcement of his team.
A shoulder injury, sustained when he fell awkwardly in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Yugoslavia, is still causing concern. Even if fully fit, however, there is no guarantee that he will find a place in the starting line-up when McCarthy makes his selection.
For all the numerous minor knocks in the camp - it could scarcely be otherwise after the intensity of the Yugoslavia game - the consensus is that the bigger reason for the manager's hesitancy is his determination not to concede the psychological advantage to his opposite number, Miroslav Blazevic, by confirming his intention of dropping a specialist attacker to include a fifth midfielder.
The implied message to Blazevic would be that the Irish intend to set out their stall to save a point, a result which would be highly gratifying for McCarthy in the overall context of qualifying for the finals in Holland and Belgium next summer.
Any decision to start with a 4-51 formation would put Keane's place at risk, for in terms of experience, physique and the ability to hold up the ball his qualifications don't stand comparison with those of Niall Quinn or, indeed, Tony Cascarino for the target-man role.
Yet, any decision to drop the Coventry teenager would be fraught with risk for the manager. For the moment, he's fudging it.
"We've got to see how Robbie is and check on the fitness of one or two others before settling on the team," he said. "There are several things to be taken into the equation - and one of them is the need for some fresh legs".
That suggests that if it is decided to go with an extra midfielder the job will go to Alan McLoughlin, an experienced international campaigner who is normally happiest when bridging the gap between midfield and the front men. This was the role McCarthy assigned him in a similar formation in Belgrade last November.
Ian Harte, the Leeds United player who offers an attractive alternative to either Steve Staunton or Kevin Kilbane down the left, may also come in for consideration. Staunton is scarcely flavour of the month these times and, as was the case in Belgrade, he took some criticism at Lansdowne for his role in Yugoslavia's goal.
Harte has started the season well at Elland Road and his ability to strike from long range could be a valuable asset here.
Lee Carsley, the replacement for the injured Roy Keane on Wednesday, will be given the job of anchoring midfield, with Tottenham's Steve Carr, vastly underrated in this country until recently, taking over the right back position from the other big-name casualty, Denis Irwin.
Although Blazevic will not announce his side until this afternoon, he left nobody in any doubt about his plans yesterday when he listed the players who, he feels, are best qualified to deliver the win needed to keep alive Croatia's hopes of topping Group Eight.
The biggest surprise by far was his statement that he intends to deploy Slaven Bilic alongside West Ham's Igor Stimac in central defence, even though Bilic, discredited for the incident which led to the suspension of the French defender Laurent Blanc for the World Cup final, hasn't played for his country since the World Cup third place play-off against Holland.
In the intervening period, he has made only a handful of appearances for Everton because of a career-threatening injury. The decision to include him now based on the evidence of an exhibition game against a club side here on Tuesday is one that should give the 1,300 Irish supporters expected at the game a lot of hope.
With Zvonimir Boban out injured, his playmaking role goes to Aljosa Asanovic, formerly of Derby County but now with Panathinaikos. Josip Simic takes over from the injured Alen Boksic as Davor Suker's frontline partner.
Ossie Ardiles, who is currently preparing Croatia Zagreb for their European Champions League game against Manchester United on September 14th, will be among the more interested spectators in a crowd of 30,000. And his observations on the loss of the two playmakers, Roy Keane and Boban, bears recounting.
"Good as Roy Keane is, I don't think he is as vital to Ireland as Boban is to Croatia," he said. "Boban is the very heartbeat of the Croatian team."
The weather here in Zagreb is wet and uninviting, the kind of setting that one might expect for a big game in November or December. After the steamy heat of the Yugoslavia game on Wednesday, that prospect is not uninviting. But when the two managers came to a press conference in a downtown hotel yesterday the weather was far from their minds.
Blazevic, an ageing extrovert who captured the attention of the vast television audience by wearing a policeman's cap during the World Cup finals in France, described Ireland as "one of the best and hardest teams in Europe" and then threatened an international incident when he said that McCarthy had succeeded in imbuing his players with some of his own arrogance. But this, he hastened to explain, was intended as a compliment.
A win here against a team which rates as one of Europe's best would be a massive boost for Ireland's qualification hopes. The more realistic target would be a point here and a win when they complete their three-match programme in Malta on Wednesday.
