Duff ‘touch and go’ for Italy clash

ALTHOUGH Damien Duff will not be fit to play for Fulham in Sunday’s game against West Ham, there is growing hope that the winger might yet be available for Ireland’s World Cup qualifier against Italy at Croke Park on Saturday week.

After Duff limped off with a calf injury early in last Sunday’s game against Arsenal, his club initially predicted a lay-off of up to three weeks.

But, following a scan which apparently showed that the injury was low grade, Fulham have now offered a more optimistic prognosis, even though manager Roy Hodgson says Duff’s availability for the Italy game – which is followed four days later by the final qualifier against Montenegro – remains “touch and go”.

However, Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni will be pleased with Hodgson’s refreshingly open and positive attitude to the prospect of Duff turning out for his country, even though the club manager has already ruled him out of playing in the Premier League on Sunday.

Said Hodgson: “If he has fully recovered we would not dream of stopping him playing. Damien at the minute would be very much touch and go.

“Our thinking was that it would be two weeks from the injury, so that would take him right up to Ireland’s next match.

“I think Ireland at the minute will be on tenterhooks as to whether he will recover for that first game.’’

Meanwhile, Andy Reid has paid tribute to Steve Bruce’s stewardship of Sunderland, where the midfielder’s inspirational performances have prompted a growing clamour for his recall to the international set-up.

Bruce this week labelled Reid his player of the month while Trapattoni has also made reference to monitoring the player’s good form even though the Dubliner has once again been excluded from the squad for the final two World Cup qualifiers.

Said Reid of Sunderland’s progress: “We are a team with more direction and purpose than last year and the manager has a lot to do with that.

“We are playing a different way – a bit more direct and trying to play our football in the opposition’s half whereas last year we maybe kept it a bit too much at the back without going anywhere. That has given us an extra dimension and allowed us to be more creative in the final third because we’re in the opposition’s half a lot more. Everybody knows their jobs and as a team we know what we’re doing.”

And Reid added: “I’ve always put a responsibility on myself to be the guy who creates things on the pitch. Lorik (Cana) and Lee (Cattermole) get through a lot of work, whereas I am a creative player. But whoever you are playing alongside, you still have to do your job and mine is to make goals and score goals.”