Republic of Ireland defender Shane Duffy is on the mend after undergoing surgery on a life-threatening injury.
Youngster back on his feet after freak liver injury
Republic of Ireland defender Shane Duffy is on the mend after undergoing surgery on a life-threatening injury.
The Everton teenager collided with youth team goalkeeper Adrian Walsh last week and lost 3.6 litres of blood as a result of a ruptured hepatic artery.
Duffy was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery and is expected to be discharged from Dublin's Mater Hospital this weekend after surviving the ordeal.
The 18-year-old was visited by Republic coach Giovanni Trapattoni, his assistant Marco Tardelli and team captain Robbie Keane on Wednesday.
Tardelli revealed the trio, fresh from the Republic's 2-1 friendly win over Paraguay, were happy with Duffy's progress.
He said: "He was very good. Sometimes they feel the pain, but it was very good. We are very happy."
Doctors have quashed initial fears that Duffy may never play again and suggested a return to training may only be in the region of three to four months away.
Paraguay win
On Tuesday, first-half goals from Kevin Doyle and Liam Lawrence saw off the threat of Paraguay, who will participate in this summer's World Cup, at the RDS Arena in Dublin.
The Republic also host World Cup finalists Algeria at the same venue on Friday and Tardelli admits that a win may prove frustrating as the team are not heading to South Africa where he feels they could compete competitively.
"We always want to win because that is our mentality," said Tardelli. "But we are very upset that we are staying here and the other teams are going to the World Cup.
"This team has shown that it is possible to play at the World Cup because it is a very good team now.
"We have many options, we have many players now. When we arrived, we were worried because we had only a few players, but now we have many players."
Trapattoni handed senior international debuts to Cillian Sheridan, Paul Greed and Keith Fahey as substitutes against the Paraguayans and Tardelli admits they may be handed starting roles on Friday.
"Maybe Giovanni will decide if it is possible to change the players," he added.
