SOCCER:WITH GIOVANNI Trapattoni due to his name his latest international squad in Waterford this morning, James McClean became eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland yesterday as Fifa completed the international clearance required to allow the former Derry City player to complete his switch.

The 22-year-old has attracted huge attention since Martin O’Neill handed him his Premier league debut back in mid- December but Trapattoni was somewhat scathing when asked about him by the media last month, suggesting that he would have to prove himself over the longer term.

Those close to him, however, have for some time been confident he will be named this morning by the Italian in his squad for the friendly game against the Czech Republic on February 29th.

A vacancy may well have opened for the newcomer this week with Aiden McGeady having to return early to Moscow from Spain after picking up a shin injury during a training session with the Spartak squad at their base near Alicante.

It remains unclear how serious McGeady’s problem is and he may well miss this month’s game, not least because Spartak resume their league campaign a few days later, but it is not believed the injury will threaten in any way his availability for the European Championships.

Leon Best’s already slender chances of making it on to the plane for Poland appear to have more or less evaporated with the Newcastle United striker likely to be out for at least three months and quite possibly the rest of the season due to a knee ligament injury, according to his club manager Alan Pardew.

“I think it will be very doubtful if we will see him again this season,” he said. “And that is a blow for us because he has been great. I think he’s doubtful for the rest of the season, because of the type of injury it is. The question is would I rush him back, would I need him back, and with the team I’ve got; possibly not.”

Asked whether he believed that meant Best is out of contention for the European Championships, Pardew replied: “You’d have to ask the Irish manager about that.”

LA Galaxy, meanwhile, have refused to allow Robbie Keane to stay at Aston Villa for an extra week so that he could play in the Premier League game against Blackburn Rovers.

The 31-year-old has scored three goals since returning to England on loan but will, as originally agreed, only be available for two more games before joining up with Galaxy whose league campaign starts on March 10th.