Steve Staunton indicated yesterday that he may yet be able to join the Republic of Ireland's depleted squad for next month's three-match tour of the United States.

After informing Mick McCarthy that he was unavailable because his wife is expecting a baby, he now believes that he may be in a position to travel.

"My wife is due to give birth on Sunday week and providing the baby arrives on schedule and there are no complications, I should be able to go on the tour four days later," he said.

"I've spoken with the manager about the situation and he has no problems about me linking up with the squad just before they leave on the Thursday morning."

McCarthy would be relieved to have the Liverpool player on board, for with Denis Irwin retired from international football and Ian Harte injured, there is currently no specialist left-back in the travelling party.

Additionally, it would solve the problem of naming a replacement team captain following the withdrawal of Roy Keane with the hamstring injury which kept him out of Manchester United's last three Premiership games. Staunton has captained the team on eight previous occasions when deputising for Andy Townsend and later Keane and led out the side for the most recent game against Greece last month.

Together with co-beneficiary Tony Cascarino, he will play in his testimonial game at Lansdowne Road on Sunday when Liverpool provide the opposition for a Republic of Ireland XI. Staunton will not however be available for the May 30th meeting with Scotland at the same venue.

The Liverpool squad announced yesterday includes the majority of their big-name players, led by Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Sami Hyypia and Emile Heskey, and is designed to provide McCarthy's team with a timely test of strength ahead of the Scotland game.

International commitments will deprive Gerard Houllier of the experience of Dietmar Hamann and the two Czech Republic players, Patrik Berger and Vladimir Smicer, but in every other sense it is a formidable squad.

The fixture could give Robbie Fowler an early opportunity to start mending fences with Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier and impress England boss Kevin Keegan.

The 25-year-old striker, who is reported to have been omitted from his club's last Premiership game of the season after a training ground dispute with Houllier, desperately needs to start proving his fitness to Keegan if he is to be included in the England squad for Euro 2000 and Sunday's game could provide an important opportunity for the player to start staking his claim.

Liverpool Squad: S Westerveld, J Nielsen, J Carragher, S Henchoz, S Hyypia, D Matteo, R Song, D Traore, F Kippe, J Redknapp, D Thompson, D Murphy, S Gerrard, M Owen, R Fowler, E Heskey, T Camara, E Meijer, J Miles.