Final chance for McCarthy to test options

As Mick McCarthy rattled off the names of this evening's Irish starters yesterday, the mention of young Steven Reid was the only reminder that it is Croatia in a friendly his team will face at Lansdowne Road this evening.

Much of the talk these past few days may well have been about the France '98 semi-finalists who dealt Irish hopes of appearing at another major championships a severe blow in Zagreb two years ago. But in reality all thoughts have been firmly fixed on the visit of the Dutch here in two weeks time for another qualifier the Republic can not afford to lose.

While the Ireland boss gives Reid an opportunity to impress on the right side of midfield, and the 20-year-old may do well, neither man appeared to treat the Millwall man's chances of featuring against Holland too seriously.

With Niall Quinn's fitness never something that can be banked upon, McCarthy's greatest uncertainty is once again over his attacking options. With David Connolly clearly still down the pecking order and Clinton Morrison considered another for the longer term, McCarthy has opted to pair Robbie Keane with Damien Duff.

Keane, he says, looks to be back to his best after a strong pre-season and returns to the team having been dropped for the game in Estonia. There, concerns about the striker's match fitness prompted McCarthy to gamble on playing Duff up front alongside Quinn despite the Blackburn winger's penchant for creating rather than scoring goals.

Tonight, the pair get a chance to show how well they complement each other, with McCarthy hoping they will perform strongly enough to offer him with a serious alternative in a fortnight. If they do and Quinn is injured it would mark a startling departure for such a crucial game.

At the back, where the absence of Kenny Cunningham and Gary Breen threatens to continue into next month, there is no question now regarding the manager's preferences, with Steve Staunton and Richard Dunne's selection intended to give the pair another chance to cement an understanding that looked rather shaky when it was first forged for the visit of Portugal.

Yesterday, McCarthy paid warm tribute to Staunton who will earn his 90th cap this evening, remarking "he has been top class throughout his career", but that he deserves to be playing, "not because he's done it all before but because he's been playing exceptionally well since he's come back in".

One concern regarding Staunton is he faces a possible ban of between one and three matches for a sending off in a pre-season friendly in Spain that may virtually deprive him of competitive football between these two internationals. "From what I've heard, the report won't be too severe so I should be all right," he player said yesterday

On the left flank, Mark Kennedy gets a chance to restake his claim to a place in McCarthy's starting line-up but while clearly anxious to foster competition the manager went out of his way to acknowledge those who have been omitted.

"There'll be one or two," he observed, "Kevin Kilbane, for instance, who won't be happy they're not starting but that's not necessarily got a bearing on what I'll do next month."

Mirko Jozic, the coach who led the then Yugoslavia to the World Youth Championship title in 1991, has some selection dilemmas of his own before the trip to Glasgow to face Scotland in their own crucial World Cup qualifier in a couple of weeks following the retirement of several more of the Croatian stars from the last World Cup finals.

"It's a big handful to have so many missing," said Jozic in reference to the absence of players like Aljosa Asanovic, Zvonimir Boban and Igor Stimac. "But we have faith in our team now as well."

Of those who remain, veterans like Davor Suker, Robert Prosinecki and Robert Jarni are short of fitness and are not expected to play for 90 minutes.

But several of those who have started to take advantage of the openings created over the past year or so are well capable of impressing this evening, not least Aston Villa's £6 million sterling signing, Bosko Balaban, who has scored six goals in seven games since making his international debut last August.

Ireland: Given (Newcastle United); Kelly (Leeds United), Dunne (Manchester City), Staunton (Aston Villa), Harte (Leeds United); Reid (Millwall), Keane (Manchester United), Carsley (Coventry City), Kennedy (Wolves), Duff (Blackburn Rovers), Keane (Leeds United).

Croatia: Pletikosa (Hajuk Split); R Kovac (Bayern Munich), Tudor (Juventus), Simic (Inter Milan), Jarni (Las Palmas) or Zivkovic (Bayern Leverkusen); Stanic (Chelsea), Soldo (VIB Stuttgart), Rapaic (Fenerbahce), N Kovac (Bayern Munich); Balaban (Aston Villa), Boksic (Middlesbrough)