GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI PLAYED down concerns over Glenn Whelan’s fitness after the midfielder sat out part of training this morning with an ankle problem.
Whelan was among a handful of players to skip the end of the session in Malahide as Trapattoni’s team takes shape ahead of Friday’s World Cup qualifier in Sweden.
“It’s not swollen, that is important,” Trapattoni said afterwards. “He got a knock but tomorrow he will be with us for sure.”
James McCarthy and John O’Shea, who both played for their clubs yesterday, also returned to the team hotel early to rest up while Jonathan Walters and goalkeeper David Forde watched the squad’s practice match from the sidelines.
“They have no problems,” Trapattoni explained when asked about Forde, who is expected to start in goal in Stockholm, and Walters. “It’s only a precaution.
“They have no great pain. It’s only rest and I’m sure tomorrow they can be with us.”
Toronto FC defender Darren O’Dea trained this morning while regular captain Robbie Keane is due to fly in to camp later this evening.
But thoughts turned again to one of the squad’s missing men, Kevin Doyle, who was one of six players consigned to the standby list as Trapattoni whittled down his travelling party to 23.
The decision to drop Doyle, who scored his first goal in over three months for Wolves at the weekend, was not an easy one, Trapattoni explained.
It was very difficult but I also had very difficult decisions many months ago to build a team. Now I have difficulty choosing the players. At the moment, I’m very happy because we have quality.Kevin is in our heart but we also have Robbie who scored last week and played yesterday and then we have Sammon, Cox and Shane Long.
Maybe in the future he will come again but at the moment, he’s not in good condition psychologically.
Asked if he has already settled on his preferred starting XI for Friday’s game, Trapattoni indicated that fans should not expect too many surprises on the team-sheet.
“It will be important in these two games not to choose to start one or two, but to choose the moment when it is important to change.
“Without injuries, the last 30 minutes can be very important because we have fresh energy and we also have creative strikers.”
