Withdrawals far from ideal for Staunton

International news: Steve Staunton's preparations for the opening game of the European Championship campaign at the start of the next month took a bit of a battering over the weekend with three first choice players and a similar number of less prominent squad members withdrawing due to injury from Wednesday's friendly international against the Netherlands.

None of the three established internationals - Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne or Shay Given - appears to be seriously injured with their respective clubs managers suggesting over the weekend that the decision to pull them out of the international squad was precautionary, but their absence from what is the Irish side's final dress rehearsal before heading for Stuttgart and the Euro 2008 game against Germany is a significant blow to the new Ireland boss.

Both Keane and Given will be missed but the absence of Dunne is, in the circumstances, probably the most disturbing for Staunton as it leaves him with just one recognised centre-half - Andy O'Brien.

There are other defensive options within the panel, most notably John O'Shea, who has played in the position for both Manchester United and Ireland, but Staunton has expressed a clear preference for using the Waterfordman in midfield.

Another possibility would be to tailor the formation to suit the available players but playing three at the back proved somewhat less than a triumph against Chile and, with Bobby Robson suggesting after that game was lost that the time for experimentation had passed, it is hard to imagine that Staunton will want to make any more changes than absolutely necessary.

Dunne was withdrawn along with Stephen Ireland by Manchester City over the weekend after tweaking a hamstring in training late last week. Keane is absent due to a thigh strain while his young clubmate Terry Dixon has been forced to cry off with a hamstring.

Ipswich striker Alan Lee is the other injury casualty.

In the circumstances the likes of Paddy McCarthy and Gary Doherty might have expected to be brought in but so far, at least, Staunton has called up just two replacements, neither of them defenders - Blackburn's Jonathan Douglas and Daryl Murphy of Sunderland.

For the latter, who has scored two goals for Sunderland in the club's opening three games of the new season, this will be a first taste of life with the senior international squad.

The absence of Given, who misses the game due to a back injury picked up in Newcastle's Uefa Cup win over FK Ventspils on Thursday night, should mean another chance for Paddy Kenny to show what he can do at this level.

Keane's withdrawal, meanwhile, is not only likely to mean a start for one of the squad's younger strikers, it will also mean that another of the senior players gets to captain the side for the night.

All in all it is, as he admitted yesterday, a good deal more disruption to his preparations than Staunton would have liked to endure.

"It's far from ideal to lose so many of the squad through injury," he said.

"As a result, we are without some of our leading players and with this being the final opportunity to test ourselves prior to the start of the European qualifying campaign, that's very disappointing."

"From game to game you can never be sure who will be fit and available," he continued, "but that's international football. Other lads will get their chance to shine and the positives are that we have some very good, young and talented players who will benefit from the opportunity."

The FAI has also confirmed that Bobby Robson will not be travelling to Dublin for Wednesday's game.