Phil Babb, the Liverpool defender, is out of the first leg of the Republic of Ireland's World Cup play-off against Belgium at Lansdowne Road on October 29th and, probably, the return match in the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, 17 days later. It follows an accident in training at Liverpool on Tuesday when he fractured a rib. The estimate is that he will be out of football for anything up to six weeks.
On a happier note for manager Mick McCarthy, Andy Townsend returned to action for Middlesbrough last night when they took on Sunderland in the League Cup. It was Townsend's first game since damaging a knee 10 days ago and McCarthy will be in contact with him today to ascertain if there was any adverse reaction. Either way, Townsend looks certain to be named in the preliminary squad tomorrow. For the injured Babb, however, the wages of his misfortune are as heavy at club level as at international level. In addition to missing a vital segment of Liverpool's Premiership programme, he is also out of their UEFA Cup tie against FC Strasbourg and manager Roy Evans did not attempt to disguise his disappointment at the news. "I'm disappointed because he has started to play really well again and look very sharp in our last couple of games," he said. Babb phoned McCarthy with the news immediately after the accident and like Evans, the Irish manager was quick to express his sense of loss. "Everybody in charge of a team wants to have as many options as possible and to that extent, it's a blow," said McCarthy.
"I agree with Roy Evans when he says that Babb is now getting back to something like the form which made him such an excellent defender in other years. "I thought he did well against Romania and while I haven't yet looked at the availability of players and the likely make-up of the team for the first play-off game, he was obviously in contention. "When I spoke with him, he mentioned a recovery period of between four and six weeks. I think he may have been erring on the side of caution, but it remains to be seen if he will, in fact, be available for the second game in Brussels."
There is no indication at this point that McCarthy is planning to tamper with the central defensive partnership of Kenny Cunningham and Ian Harte which has grown from an improbable beginning to play an influential role in the team's qualification for the play-offs. The feeling was, however, that if McCarthy sensed the need for change, he would look closely at the claims of the re-emerging Babb who played so well in the World Cup finals in America three years ago. With the Liverpool player now out of the reckoning, Gary Breen of Coventry is expected to be the one putting pressure on Cunningham and Harte when the team to play at Lansdowne in just under two weeks time is eventually named.
Meanwhile, McCarthy will announce his preliminary squad in Dublin tomorrow and at this point there is nothing to suggest that he will gamble on the fitness of the exciting Norwich City player Keith O'Neill. O'Neill, whose last appearance in the national team was as a substitute in Macedonia last April, said earlier in the week that he hoped to end a long absence from football by playing for the Norwich City reserve team next Tuesday. While not directly referring to O'Neill, McCarthy said that he had no intention of setting deadlines or putting pressure on anybody. "I don't think that would be very productive - at the end of the day a player is either fit or unfit," he said.
Denis Irwin and Steve Staunton, both omitted from the squad for the Romania fixture, will be back, but it seems as if the young Middlesbrough midfielder Alan Moore will again be marked absent. Moore is to enter hospital for an operation to address a blood circulation problem which has severely restricted the number of games he has played this year.
Somewhat more encouraging news was provided by in-form Tony Cascarino last night when he created the winning goal for substitute Olivier Rambo as Nancy beat Red Star 1-0 in Paris last night to stay on top of the French second division.
Meanwhile, the FAI announced yesterday that the Hungarian referee Lazlo Vagner will take charge of the game at Lansdowne Road. The match officials for the second leg of the tie will not be named until early next month. The Republic of Ireland, in free fall in the international ratings for the last two years, are now down to 43rd place. This compares with their 36th placing in the last official list announced some months ago. Ireland are in good company, however, for Italy have been relegated to 16th position, their lowest placing for many years. England climb five places in the rankings list to seventh with Belgium failing to find a place in the top 30.
