Kennedy injury opens World Cup door for Reid

An injury to Mark Kennedy of Wolves and a consequent summons to the World Cup for Millwall's young midfielder Steven Reid overshadowed the latest public relations gaffe surrounding the Republic of Ireland's captain Roy Keane last night. Reid, with only four caps to his name, was contacted just in time as he headed for Gatwick airport yesterday en route for a holiday in Barbados to be told that he will be flying to Dublin instead for this evening's friendly against Nigeria, and onto Japan the next day.

Like another young midfielder, Celtic's Colin Healy, the 21-year-old had failed to make the list of 23 players named last week despite some encouraging performances in this year's three friendly internationals at Lansdowne Road. Ireland's manager, Mick McCarthy, had decided to stick by those who had played a part in coming through a difficult qualifying group.

That included Kennedy, though he had been sent home for disciplinary reasons before the away game with the Netherlands, and was only third-choice as a wide player behind Jason McAteer and Kevin Kilbane.

The Wolves man has also struggled with injuries recently and effectively used Niall Quinn's testimonial match between Sunderland and Ireland on Tuesday as an extended fitness test for a troublesome groin. He scored with his first touch after three minutes and stayed on for almost 85 minutes, but felt a reaction overnight and withdrew yesterday morning. "To his eternal credit, he was honest with me," McCarthy said. "It was a big decision for him."

Reid, a quick, clever footballer, came through the ranks at Millwall and was qualified to play for England, Jamaica or Ireland (through his mother) choosing the latter after being encouraged by Millwall's youth coach, Kevin O'Callaghan. Selection is a huge boost for him after missing the possibility of promotion with Millwall in a last-minute play-off defeat by Birmingham City. "To play even a minute in the World Cup would be a dream come true," he said.

McCarthy has insisted that there are no problems with the fitness of his captain, Roy Keane, who chose to miss Tuesday's match for what the manager called "preventative procedures". "Roy's not injured, he's fine and he'll be fit to play against Nigeria," McCarthy said; but that explanation only arrived after the match on Tuesday, causing speculation in the meantime about everything from another breakdown in communications to a "snub" for Quinn.

There have been occasions in the past when not even McCarthy has known where his captain was. This time, he claimed to have been informed last week that Keane would not be at the game, but decided to keep the news to himself rather than detract from Quinn's big night. Even with the best of motives, that was a miscalculation, illustrating a lack of public relations awareness that could cause endless problems once the world's media descend on the Irish camp over the next month.

Neither Keane nor Reid will be overworked in this evening's game. After disappointing at the African Nations Cup, Nigeria's hastily-installed new coach, Festus Adegboye Onigbinde, has left out some of the country's most experienced players, like Finidi George, Taribo West and Sunday Oliseh – though West was at the team hotel last night – but Arsenal's Nwankwo Kanu looks to be assured of his place.

Republic of Ireland (possible, 4-4-2): Given (Newcastle); Finnan (Fulham), Breen (Coventry), Staunton (Aston Villa), Harte (Leeds); McAteer

(Sunderland), Holland (Ipswich Town), Kinsella (Charlton), Kilbane (Sunderland); Robbie Keane (Leeds), Duff (Blackburn).

Nigeria (possible, 4-4-2): Shorunmu (Lucerne); Yobo (Marseille), Okoronkwo (Shakhtar Donetsk), Christopher (Royal Antwerp), Babayaro (Chelsea); Ikedia (Ajax), Okocha (Paris Saint-Germain), Utaka (Ismaili), Aghahowa (Shakhtar Donestsk); Kanu (Arsenal), Ogbeche (Paris Saint-Germain).