SOCCER/World Cup qualifying, Group Four: The Irish squad's preparations for Saturday's World Cup qualifier in Cyprus will get into full swing today in Malahide where Brian Kerr's players will have their first training session before flying out tomorrow for the game.

There were no reports of significant injuries ahead of the trip last night and so Kerr looks to have all the players named in his squad last week available to him.

He will, however, be without Clinton Morrison, Andy Reid and Roy Keane, all of whom are suspended for the first of the team's two games. Keane is also ruled out of next Wednesday's meeting with Switzerland because of a broken bone in his foot.

Despite the fact that the team will be without three first-choice players come kick-off time on Saturday evening (6pm), Kerr's assistant Chris Hughton remains upbeat about the Republic's prospects of taking six points from the two matches and making it to Germany next summer.

"When the fixtures were announced," he says, "going into these last two games of the group - Cyprus away and Switzerland at home - we thought then we would have to get something from both games.

"We felt some of the other big nations would pick up points away in Cyprus, so we felt we would have to get something there as well, and also have to get something from our last game against Switzerland.

"Ideally, it would have been to get something to win the group, but it is a different situation now. Despite that, we are confident going into both games."

Ireland could still win the group, primarily in the event that the Swiss beat the French and the Irish beat the Swiss by a greater margin next Wednesday and all other results go as would be expected.

A more likely scenario, however, is that the Republic would secure second place and a play-off in the event that the team wins both its remaining games.

Hughton and the rest of the management team will be buoyed by the form Robbie Keane has shown over the past couple of weeks with the Tottenham striker scoring two fine goals for the London club and looking sharp despite starting most of their games on the bench.

A hamstring injury sustained by Mido in Tottenham's 3-2 win over Charlton last Saturday means the Dubliner is likely to get another chance to establish himself one place higher in Martin Jol's pecking order when he gets back from international duty. But Kerr's hope will be he can reproduce his recent club form at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia where the Irish won 4-0 on their last visit during the successful campaign to qualify for the 2002 World Cup finals.

Kerr's players generally had a good weekend at their clubs with Damien Duff also scoring while Graham Kavanagh, Richard Dunne and Shay Given all turned in impressive performances.

After his side's draw with Portsmouth Given, who kept Newcastle in the match with a succession of fine saves, admitted there is no room for error on the international front with the Donegal man observing that: "They're massive games and we have to win them both if we are to have any chance of qualifying."

The French, meanwhile, will travel to Switzerland without leading goalscorer David Trezeguet who picked up a thigh strain over the weekend as Juventus beat Inter Milan 2-0 in their Serie A clash.

For Raymond Domenech, who is already without Thierry Henry, the news will come as a considerable blow at a time when the French finally appear to have put all of their troubles behind them and are on the verge of securing top spot in Group Four.

The Swiss also retain a chance of securing automatic qualification by winning the group and a win on Saturday in Berne would leave them in a strong position coming to Dublin for their last game of the campaign.

Switzerland's manager Kobi Kuhn has called up Stuttgart's striker Marco Streller, Auxerre's Stephane Grichting and Valon Behrami of Lazio to the squad.

Streller had been omitted because he had been sidelined for six weeks with a torn knee ligament but he is now reckoned to be in with a chance of playing some part at least against Ireland, while Grichting and Behrami have been brought in as additional defensive cover.