SOCCER NEWS:GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI and the FAI will have to monitor Damien Duff's progress as he looks to recover in time from the calf injury he picked up at the weekend to feature in Ireland's final World Cup qualifying group matches next month.

The 30 year-old limped out of Saturday’s defeat by Arsenal after just nine minutes and officials at Fulham yesterday confirmed the club’s medical staff believe it will be between two and three weeks before he is fully fit.

Though the club spokesman declined to comment on the implications of such a lay off for his prospects of featuring for Ireland, it would almost certainly rule him out of both Ireland games (against Italy on October 10th and Montenegro on the 14th) in the eyes of his employers, although Trapattoni may see things slightly differently.

The feeling had been that Duff was not as seriously injured as had been at first feared and there was some optimism he would be fit and available to travel to Dublin for the games.

Now it appears Trapattoni will either have to hope for a dramatic recovery or insist on exercising his right to bring the player in so that he can be assessed by the association’s medical staff.

Even having the Dubliner available for some or all of the second game could prove to be an important boost as Ireland are still likely to be chasing a result in that game.

There is already some confusion about the assessment of the injury with the club insisting yesterday no scan on the muscle had been necessary for the assessment, while it had been strongly suggested by various parties over the weekend there had indeed been a preliminary scan with others likely to follow.

Either way, the situation is far from ideal ahead of such important games and it represents a further blow for a player who has already missed a string of group games, including the away matches against Georgia, Montenegro and Italy.

The situation is not helped by the fact that Aiden McGeady did not play for Celtic over the weekend due to an ankle injury. Trapattoni expressed confidence on Friday that the winger would be fit by the time the Dublin games come around and there is an expectation that he will feature in next weekend’s Old Firm game but the Ireland manager will presumably be happier when he sees him get through 90 minutes without any problems.