Lee Carsley will miss the Republic of Ireland's game against the Czech Republic at Lansdowne Road on February 23rd and may be out for anything up to six weeks after fracturing a bone in his instep during Blackburn's 2-1 FA Cup defeat by Newcastle United on Monday.
Promoted to a role of some importance during the Euro 2000 qualifying programme, Carsley was taken to hospital to have his damaged foot scanned within minutes of being replaced in the game and later Blackburn manager Tony Parkes acknowledged that he may not play again until mid March.
It means that Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has lost another midfield option. And with nine goals to his credit since being assigned a more advanced midfield role by Parkes, Carsley is also a substantial loss to Blackburn in their attempt to reclaim a place in the FA Premiership next season.
His absence from Ireland's team, may be less critical in the short term, and yet McCarthy was quick to describe it as a setback in his efforts to assemble an experienced midfield formation to confront the Czechs.
"Since each of our games between now and the end of the season is, in fact, a trial for the World Cup, I intend to use them to give some of the players on the fringe of the team, the chance of making their point," he said.
"But you cannot expect the people coming in to do well if they don't have experienced internationals alongside them in the team. To that extent, it's unfortunate that we will not be able to call on Lee."
Carsley's misfortune is exacerbated for the Ireland manager by Alan McLoughlin's retirement from international football and the probability that Roy Keane will not be released by Manchester United to captain the team.
McCarthy, who is due to announce his preliminary squad next Wednesday, declined to speculate on his plans, but the likelihood is that they will include Leeds United player Stephen McPhail for the first time.
There is also reason to believe that Matt Holland of Ipswich Town will be summoned to Dublin after winning his only cap as a replacement for Mark Kennedy in the closing stages of the game in Macedonia in October.
Meanwhile, FAI officials have confirmed that they are in the final stages of concluding an agreement for Greece to play in Dublin for the first time on April 26th. The game would constitute an important part of the preparations for the World Cup, but as yet there is no game in place for March.
McCarthy has a fixture tentatively written in for March 29th, but so far there is no inkling of the likely opposition. Neither has there been any move as yet to augment the joint testimonial game for Stephen Staunton and Tony Cascarino with a full international fixture in May.
