SOCCER:WITH THE clock ticking down towards the first of two key qualifiers in five days for Ireland, Giovanni Trapattoni was having to come to terms with the loss to injury of two of his favourites yesterday.

Damien Duff and Keith Andrews both touched down in Dublin just long enough to be told by the association’s medical staff that they may leave again.

The Italian was clearly frustrated by the prospect of having to cope against the Russians and Slovaks without them, but, in showing up and undergoing scans that confirmed calf and groin strains respectively, the pair at least have shown the manager they understood the niceties of pulling out of an international squad ahead of such big games.

Keith Treacy, on the other hand, may have severely dented his prospects with the manager with the manner of his exit.

The Dubliner recently acknowledged he was at least partly to blame for his much publicised problems with former under-21 boss Don Givens, and his relationship with the senior manager may be about to head similarly south after he announced he intended to use the international break to rest a groin strain that has been causing him discomfort while playing for Preston of late.

“Someone said I’m in the squad, others said I’m on standby, but, whatever, I am not going,” he said. “I don’t think Trap was too happy when I phoned and told him I am tired. He was surprised because we only played nine games, but I’ve been struggling and need the break.

“The gaffer (Darren Ferguson) has kept faith in me and tells me to grin and bear it. It’s a tough-love attitude, but I’m benefiting from it. I need to be sure that I am fit and playing well for Preston and then, hopefully, I will get to play for my country again.

“The international break has come at the right time because we have a few others taking pain-killers to get through games. I am going to put my feet up and relax; I might go back to Dublin and see my family.”

Perhaps out of politeness, Trapattoni seemed to place the responsibility for the player’s failure to travel after being called up over the weekend at the door of his club. Ferguson, in common with his father, seems to have a bit of form on this front.

“The club spoke to our doctor and they say he’s injured,” he said, with just a hint of irritation. “He can play, but he needs to rest so he can recover. It’s not my problem, though. It’s political.

“In Italy the players always come and then, when it is agreed that they’re injured, they go home again. Here, the English clubs just say, ‘no, he is injured’, and our hands are tied.”

If it hasn’t already, though, Treacy’s take on the situation is bound to reach the Italian and, with Stephen Hunt already unavailable, it seems unlikely that he will entirely agree with the 22-year-old’s priorities.

He already seemed at pains to present the starkly contrasting attitude of Duff to the assembled press in Malahide yesterday.

“He’s very sincere,” observed the Italian. “He spoke with me and apologised. He wanted to play, but the muscles are sore and the scan shows blood (in the muscle) so we cannot take the risk.”

Not for the first time, meanwhile, Trapattoni seemed to take a swipe at Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce, this time over the way Keith Andrews had been used in recent weeks while still not fully recovered from a groin strain.

“With this groin he can play 20 minutes and then he’s injured again. If they continue to play this will be always so. The injury needs to recover, he needs two, three weeks, maybe a month.

“It’s not only Andrews, though. We have other players at other clubs. If injured, they play or they don’t – maybe yes or maybe no. I have many, many, many experiences of many clubs.

“I’m not a doctor, but I know it would be better for a player to rest in this situation, but at a club there is a manager and doctor and they say, ‘play, try for 20 or 30 minutes until the pain comes’.”

In the absence of Duff and Andrews, Trapattoni looks likely to name an unchanged team against Russia on Friday night, although Stoke’s Marc Wilson has been called into the squad to provide an additional option.

The Italian seemed more concerned with the attitude of his players, though, than the precise line-up.

“I saw them when they arrived and we spoke of how important these games are,” he said. “We are happy that after the first two games, against Armenia and Andorra, we have six points. But I said to them, we must start every game as if it is our first game.

“We have to start with the same attitude as before, not thinking about winning the earlier game but concentrating on the next positive thing we can achieve.”