McCarthy, Wilson major doubts for Glasgow
Stoke City defender Wilson already looks certain to miss Friday’s European Championship qualifying game against Scotland in Glasgow after sustaining a hamstring injury in The Potters’ 2-1 win over Spurs yesterday, a game attended by Ireland’s manager.
The centre-back lasted just 25 minutes at White Hart Lane before being forced out, and Stoke manager Mark Hughes indicated afterwards that Wilson has little chance of joining up with the national team.
“It looks as though he will be out,” said Hughes. “I think he has pulled a hamstring. He will have to get it scanned.”
Of equal if not even more concern for O’Neill will be the news from Everton that James McCarthy was also troubled by a hamstring worry following yesterday’s 1-1 draw away to Sunderland.
“He was feeling his hamstring towards the end but he wanted to stay on the pitch because we had used all three subs,” said Everton manager Roberto Martinez. “It is a bit of a concern because he had the same injury a few weeks back when he missed the game against Manchester Untied and it is in that area. We are hoping it’s more fatigue than a soft tissue problem. We will assess him in the morning.”
Unlike Wilson, McCarthy not only lasted the 90 minutes yesterday but secured the point for Everton by clearing a Wes Brown header off the line in injury-time, in a game which also saw Seamus Coleman back for the Toffees after recovering from a cut on his Achilles.
O’Neill will be especially anxious to get clarification on McCarthy’s situation, given that, like Coleman, he missed the 1-1 draw away in Germany but was able to play for Everton the following weekend, prompting O’Neill to observe that he was prepared to give the club “the benefit of the doubt until proved otherwise.”
Adding to O’Neill’s concern about an Irish midfield already shorn of Wes Hoolahan is that, after fracturing his leg in that game in Gelsenkirchen, Stoke’s Glenn Whelan is involved in a race against time to be fit for selection next Friday. And Darron Gibson, who came off the bench yesterday is, as his Everton manager put it, “still working his way back to full match fitness.”
It also emerged last night that Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Keiren Westwood is also a doubt for next Friday.
Meanwhile, Aiden McGeady has been pinpointed as the man Scotland have to stop in the big game at Parkhead.
The Everton man will be back on his old stomping ground and up against former Celtic team-mate Charlie Mulgrew. The duo have been friends since they were 12 and Mulgrew knows all about the winger.
He said: “Aiden is their main threat. They’ve got other players like Keane and Coleman and we all know what Anthony Stokes is like. They have quality everywhere — but I still think Aiden is their main danger.
“From speaking to him, I know he’s looking forward to this one as it’s massive. He’s relishing it and looking forward to coming back to Celtic Park again. Aiden has done brilliantly in his career and he’s lived up to what we always thought he’d become.
“As for the criticism he might get, I’m sure he’s used to the boos now. The last time he came back to Celtic Park, he got a good reception. But he’s been to other places and been booed in big stadiums. I genuinely don’t think it will affect him.”
Scotland manager Gordon Strachan has called up Derby County’s Johnny Russell as a replacement for his injured clubmate Craig Bryson.
The uncapped 24 year-old has been described by Derby manager Steve McClaren as “the catalyst” for the run of form which has taken the team to the top of the Championship.
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