Carr breaks down again - February 16, 2001
Republic of Ireland international Steve Carr could miss the rest of the season after breaking down in training yesterday.
The Tottenham full back is definitely out of Ireland's February 28 friendly against Denmark and is a major doubt for the World Cup qualifiers against Cyprus and Andorra in March.
Carr has suffered a recurrence of the abdominal injury which saw him miss half a dozen games for Spurs in December and January. He came on as a sub in Tottenham's last two outings and seemed to be making steady progress.
It is possible that the 24-year-old Dubliner will require corrective surgery on the problem and that could keep delay his comeback until the beginning of next season.
"I've had a recurrence of my recent groin injury," Carr said. "I did it in training and it looks as though I'll have to start the recovery process all over again. If there's anything positive about it, it's that it doesn't feel as bad as it did before, but I'm still pretty gutted. It's one of those injuries easy to aggravate, but I felt sure I was over it."
Tottenham boss George Graham said yesterday: "We don't know how long he'll be out for, but I hope he doesn't need an operation".
Carr's injury will most likely give Ireland manager Mick McCarthy the chance to make amends to Bradford's Andy O'Brien by drafting him into the squad, with either Wimbledon's Kenny Cunningham or Fulham's Steve Finnan switching to right back.