World Cup play-off news:Bohemians goalkeeper Brian Murphy's season keeps getting better and better after he was drafted into the Republic of Ireland squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against France. Murphy will replace the injured Keiren Westwood.
Murphy, already assured of another League of Ireland title ahead of tonight's game in Bray, will provide cover for Shay Given and Joe Murphy. Capped for Ireland at under-20 and under-21 level, he has yet to feature at senior level.
The 26-year-old, who had spells with both Manchester City and Swansea City earlier in his career, has agreed a move back to England and will join up with Roy Keane at Ipswich Town in January.
Coventry City's Westwood was ruled out after failing to overcome a back injury that has kept him sidelined in recent weeks.
Giovanni Trapattoni will also watch the progress of Damien Duff closely to see if the Fulham winger recovers from an Achilles injury in time. Duff will be given a late fitness test before Fulham's trip to Wigan tomorrow.
In France, Raymond Domenech’s decision to leave Patrick Vieira out of his squad has been met with disdain by the veteran midfielder.
Vieira, who has won 107 caps but is struggling to recapture his best form and rarely starts for Inter Milan, declared himself the best option at Domenech’s disposal.
“I know that my situation is delicate because I’m not a guaranteed first pick for my club,” Vieira explained. “I can’t argue with that.
“But I also know that in my role there isn’t anyone better than than me. That may seem a bit pretentious but I’m convinced about it.”
Despite the snub, the 33-year-old remains convinced he should feature should the French reach the finals and will fight to earn the recall he clearly believes he deserves.
“I’m still firmly focused on my aim of playing in the next World Cup,” he added. “The one thing that is certain is that I’ll give everything I’ve got to be there and after that it’s down to the manager to make his choice.”
Trapattoni’s side play host to France on November 14th (Saturday week) with the return leg in Paris four days later.
A row has broken out, meanwhile, between Real Madrid and the Portuguese Football Federation over whether injured forward Cristiano Ronaldo should be called up for their play-off against Bosnia.
The first leg is in Lisbon the second in Zenica four days later and federation chief Gilberto Madail said on Thursday that Ronaldo wanted to play and would be joining up with the squad.
Real have said he needs two more weeks of treatment on his ankle and director general Jorge Valdano said today the club's world record signing would not be going.
"The doctors and common sense prevent Cristiano Ronaldo being called up by Portugal," he said on Spanish radio.
Ronaldo was due to return to action around now but Real said tests conducted by a specialist in Amsterdam who treated the same ankle last year had confirmed the diagnosis of the club's medical staff.
Ronaldo said on his return from the Netherlands on Thursday that the ankle was getting better and that he hoped to be fit for Bosnia.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)