Aston Villa defender Richard Dunne could be about to earn a shock World Cup recall for the Republic of Ireland.
The 33-year-old hasn't featured all season for the Villans after requiring three rounds of surgery to help solve a groin problem, but is currently training with the national side.
While Dunne will play no part against England at Wembley on Wednesday, he could feature against Georgia and the Faroe Islands in the coming fortnight.
"Now is England and Georgia; the Faroes is a qualifier," Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni told Sky Sports News. "He would have to be 100% fit. Don't forget, this injury has been 10 months, one year. It was a bad injury and then he had surgery.
"Only if he was very, very okay, 100%. But there are two or three questions: he is without a club; he is many months without a game; and it's a qualifier. But for us, he will be again important in the future. I spoke with him and I clarified his position, his position with the club and his position for us. We need Richard in the future.
"But he has no club at this moment. I said, 'Richard, we will help you because you deserve respect, but you have no team at this moment and you must be careful because an injury could be for you very, very dangerous'. We have more respect for him. I said we will go step by step. We have these two opportunities and we can assess his condition after the next two or three days. Sure, I want to help him. He will not start the game, but during the game depending on the score, we could give him an opportunity to play with us."
Ireland host Georgia on Sunday before entertaining the Faroe Islands five days later.
Matt Cotton
