AHEAD OF a game against a team with so many forwards that Carlos Tevez will be left to watch from the stands tomorrow night, Giovanni Trapattoni’s striking options had dwindled almost to nothing yesterday, with Robbie Keane the only fully fit forward in the squad to face Argentina.

The Ireland skipper will lead the team out for what will be his 100th appearance for his country, but it was far from clear who will line out alongside the Dubliner come kick-off time at the Aviva stadium.

Kevin Doyle is the obvious choice, of course, but the Wolves striker admitted after training yesterday he is still unsure whether the calf strain that has limited his involvement with the squad over the last couple of days will have healed enough.

“I’m just not sure,” he said. “What I thought was a dead leg that I got last Tuesday hasn’t really improved. I want to play, the manager Mick McCarthy wants me to play, the gaffer (Trapattoni) wants me to play. I need the minutes because I missed a couple of pre-season games. But if it’s not right tomorrow, it won’t look great.

“He (McCarthy) wants me to play because I missed the game against Hearts and then the one against Leeds as well with a hamstring niggle, so I need to play to get some minutes.

“We’ve a game on Saturday (against Stoke City) and if I dont play here, because of a calf that’s not right, it will be difficult then.”

If he does miss out tomorrow it will be difficult too for the Ireland manager, who has lost Shane Long and Caleb Folan from the squad over the last day or so due to injuries, before being told Leon Best, who he tried to call in as a replacement, is also laid up.

It was always intended that Cillian Sheridan would join up with the group once tonight’s under-21 game against Estonia was out of the way, but, given the circumstances, Anthony Stokes will also now be drafted in too.

After that, asked a slightly exasperated Marco Tardelli yesterday, “what other strikers are there for us to call up”?

Portsmouth midfielder Marc Wilson is also out of the game and has stayed in England, while Andy Keogh limped away from yesterday’s training session with an ice pack strapped to his ankle.

The only consolation for the Ireland manager is the news, which came via Shay Given, that while Tevez will train with the Argentina squad this afternoon and attend the game tomorrow, he will not play as he doesn’t feel he has been back in training long enough since the summer break.

Like Tevez, a large part of Doyle’s focus is already on the start of the club season, although the Wexford man clearly feels that playing tomorrow would help, rather than hinder, his chances of making an early impact for his club side.

Doyle is well aware of the dangers facing Wolves over the months ahead, with McCarthy’s men amongst the favourites to go down next May, the next victims of the infamous ‘second season syndrome’.

“I know all about that, although I think we’ve made a good start because we signed five players and spent a good bit of money, more money than a good lot of clubs to be honest. At Reading, the manager stuck with the same team and squad, he trusted us and had faith in us and we, me included, didn’t repay it in the second season.

“Mick McCarthy has spent money straight after the end of the season, six and a half million on Stephen Fletcher and Hunty (Stephen Hunt) and a good few others. I think that’s what we needed to keep us all on our toes, to make sure we don’t become complacent.”