SOCCER EURO 2012 QUALIFYING:GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI'S midfield options have been further restricted ahead of Saturday's European Championship qualifier against FYR Macedonia in Skopje by the loss of Darron Gibson, who is injured and will not now join up with the squad.

The 23-year-old, who hasn’t played for Manchester United since the second leg of the club’s Champions League semi-final against Schalke 04, informed the Republic of Ireland manager by text he has a groin strain, a claim that seemed to be met with a certain amount of scepticism on the part of the veteran Italian.

“Gibson has sent us an SMS,” said Trapattoni, smiling but having let out a long sigh when the player’s name was mentioned. “It’s his groin. In the world it is always the groin! Also in Italy, when you don’t know, it’s the groin! It’s the new disease. It’s always groin. It’s impossible to look.”

The loss leaves the Italian short-handed in midfield, where the two players who have partnered Glenn Whelan over the first half of this campaign, Paul Green and Gibson, are now both gone. Whelan himself is struggling with an ankle problem, but Trapattoni says he will be okay to play, while Keith Fahey is a more serious doubt due to a knee injury.

Keith Andrews, meanwhile, has started both of Ireland’s games over the past week and did well on both occasions, but there is still bound to be a concern the Dubliner has played so little competitive football either for Blackburn over the course of the last few months because of injuries.

The games against Northern Ireland and Scotland have, at least, provided the Ireland boss with the opportunity to give players such as Andrews and a number of those attached to Championship clubs whose seasons finished at the start of the month some game time.

Trapattoni insisted again yesterday the tournament had been good for his team and that he was hoping the players can carry some of momentum into Saturday’s match against Macedonia.

The most important thing (against Scotland) was that it was a good result,” he said, “but there are two or three other important things. The first is that it was a new squad with two or three new players.

“The team that played, though, was in balance and we have always said that if the team is in balance and plays with discipline then any result is possible to achieve.

“It (the Macedonia game) is an important game for us and it’s important that we play with the same enthusiasm, the same attitude that we showed in these two games.”

His line-up, he admits, remains uncertain in a couple of positions, most notably central defence, where Seán St Ledger is being given every chance to get over the knee injury he sustained while training ahead of Ireland’s last encounter with Saturday’s opponents in March. “I have to think very hard about whether he will play, because in Macedonia we need players who are 100 per cent fit, I think. Over the next two days, though, we can decide.”

The Italian insists he remains happy with the options available to him even after the loss of so many players. In addition to Richard Dunne, who is suspended, as well as Damien Duff and Kevin Doyle, Ireland will be without the likes of Jonathan Walters, Anthony Stokes and Keiren Westwood this weekend.

John O’Shea, Shane Long and Kevin Kilbane are all due to join up with the squad which heads to Skopje from Dublin on Thursday, while Trapattoni has said he was impressed by a number of the peripheral squad members who were given chances to impress against Northern Ireland and Scotland, not least West Brom’s Simon Cox, who has been with the squad for the first time.

“He is a player who can play left or as a striker,” he said. “He is a very clever striker, very clever. When he takes the ball he knows before what he’s going to do. He is playing well together with Robbie Keane. They read the game and play as if they have always played together.

“He is a good surprise. I have seen many games, right or left, right or left, but he hasn’t been like that in these two games.

“In these two games he has played with personality and cleverness.”

Meanwhile, the future of the Carling Nations Cup may not be formally decided for some time yet with a review of this year’s event planned, but no decision pending.