Northern Ireland v Switzerland: Defender Bruno Berner and midfielder Tranquilo Barnetta yesterday pulled out of Switzerland's squad to face Northern Ireland. Freiberg's Berner has flu while the uncapped Barnetta has an abductor muscle injury.

Coach Kobi Kuhn will stick with the remaining 18 members of his squad for the friendly in Zurich's Hardturm Stadium. Striker Alexander Frei, given a three-match ban by UEFA for spitting at England's Steven Gerrard during Euro 2004, is part of the squad.

He will miss Switzerland's opening two World Cup qualifiers against the Faroe Islands and the Republic of Ireland as he serves the remainder of a ban, having already sat out the final Euro 2004 group game against France.

Manchester United's Roy Carroll will start in goal for Northern Ireland as Lawrie Sanchez seeks to build on a five-game unbeaten run. Six months ago, when he took over from Sammy McIlroy, they had gone 14 matches without a win and failed to score in 13. However their hopes of a dress rehearsal for the qualifier against Poland on September 4th received a blow when Michael Hughes, their key midfielder, was ruled out with a groin problem.