Damien Duff to miss Euro 2012 qualifiers
The Republic of Ireland's hopes of qualifying for the Euro 2012 tournament, to be held in Poland and the Ukraine, were dealt a serious blow over the week when their 31-year-old winger, Damien Duff has
been forced to pull himself out of the lineup ahead of Ireland's matches against Russia and Slovakia.
Republic of Ireland manager, Giovanni Trapattoni, voiced his concern about one of his veteran regulars.
"The news is not very good," he said. "Damien Duff has had a scan and there is a little injury.
"It is 90 per cent [certain] he is not available. A muscle injury is very dangerous. It is not easy to recover in eight days. He has pulled the muscle and there is a little blood showing on the scan, so we
spoke to the doctor and he is going home."
The muscle in question is Duff's calf which has caused him troubles in the past. It is believed he aggravated the problem in last Saturday's match when his Fulham side tied West Ham 1-1. Duff was substituted
for Zoltan Gera in the 69th minute.
To further compound Ireland's injury woes they will be without Blackburn midfielder Keith Andrews, who continues to suffer from a groin injury.
Both players did not compete in last month's qualifying victories over Armenia and Andorra last month as well. Though their services weren't required to get the points against those two sides, Russia and
Slovakia are certainly viewed as stiffer competition.
Ireland currently sit atop their group with two wins from two matches tied on points with Slovakia. Russia are not far behind with one victory and one defeat – their one loss coming at the hands of second
place Slovakia.
These upcoming matches will be seen as pivotal in determining whether or not the Republic of Ireland belong at the top of their group. If the Republic of Ireland can collect full points from either of
their two upcoming matches they will put themselves in the driver's seat towards qualifying for at least one of the group play-off spots.
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