Cardiff City news 06/02/02

Wed 6th February 2002. International call ups

Rob Earnshaw and Daniel Gabbidon have been released by Mark Hughes to play for Cardiff City this coming Saturday at Ninian Park against Swindon and the following Tuesday away at Brentford. Both players will then join up with the Wales squad on Wednesday morning and will take a full part in the build up to the game at the Millennium Stadium against Argentina.

It is unknown what role the pair will have in the match, a place on the bench is probably the best they can expect (and that of course is a fantastic acheivement).

Mark Hughes is not worried about the younger players becoming involved

"I've shown in the past I'm quite prepared to throw younger players in and see what happens. We've got a number of young players who are breaking through and we just hope they continue to progress as they have done in the past 18 months."

Congratulations to both players. Earnie scored at Bournemouth last night and that will have boosted his confidence and Gabbidon was a class act again. These two are great prospects. Gabbidon is only 22 and Earnie only 20, both have represented Wales at U21 level and this step up into the full squad is a proud moment. With a new Euro qualifying campaign coming up next season we could be about to see the start of two very promising international careers.

The squad for Wales v Argentina at the Millenniumm Stadium, Wednesday February 13th is

P Jones (Southampton), M Crossley, (Middlesbrough), D Ward (Nottingham Forest), D Coyne (Grimsby), A Melville (Fulham), M Delaney (Aston Villa), K Symons (C Palace), R Page (Sheff Utd), D Gabbidon (Cardiff City), D Barnard (Barnsley), J Robinson (Charlton), A Johnson (West Brom), J Koumas (Tranmere), R Savage (Leicester), M Pembridge (Everton), S Davies(Tottenham), C Robinson, N Blake, (both Wolves), C Bellamy, G Speed (both Newcastle), I Roberts (Norwich), J Hartson (Celtic), R Giggs (Man Utd), R Earnshaw (Cardiff City).

Stand-by players: G Taylor (Burnley), S Jenkins (Huddersfield), J Price, G Roberts (both Tranmere).

Reports from Ireland yesterday confirmed that Graham Kavanagh was close to being selected to the Republic squad for the forthcoming friendly against Russia.

A colleague of mine in the Irish press told me

"Kav didn't make the Republic of Ireland's senior panel for the friendly against Russia at Lansdowne Road, Dublin on Wednesday, February 13. His place was effectively given to Glasgow Celtic's Colin Healy, 22 next month. Healy is currently on loan at Coventry and got the nod because he is playing a higher level of football. Kav was considered, but it came down to that in the end."

Ireland still have more friendlies to play ahead of the World Cup in Japan and Korea. Still maybe a chance for Kavanagh to get the chance to play for his country before the final World Cup squad is selected.