Sunderland players get World Cup qualifying calls

Sunderland skipper Gary Breen has been selected to play for the Republic of Ireland in their opening qualifying games, against Cyprus and Switzerland.

RoI manager Brian Kerr named his squad on Sunday but there was still no room at the top level for Sean Thornton, who has been named for the Republic's U21 squad along with Stephen Elliott.

Switzerland manager Kobi Kuhn has included former Sunderland defender Bernt Haas in his squad.

RoI senior squad to face Cyprus at Lansdowne Road on 4 Sept and Switzerland at Basel on Sept 8th:

Given (Newcastle United), Colgan (Barnsley), Kenny (Sheffield United), Finnan (Liverpool), Cunningham (Birmingham City), O'Brien (Newcastle United), Maybury (Hearts), O'Shea (Manchester United), Carr (Newcastle United), Doherty (Norwich City), Breen (Sunderland), Miller (Manchester United), Quinn (Sheffield United), Keane (Manchester United), Holland (Charlton Athletic), Kavanagh (Cardiff City), Reid (Nottingham Forest), Kilbane (Everton), Duff (Chelsea), Lee (Cardiff City), Morrison (Birmingham City), Connolly (Leicester City), Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Delap (Southampton).

Meanwhile both George McCartney and Jeff Whitley have been selected to represent Northern Ireland for their games against Poland (Windsor Park, 4th Sept) and Wales (Millennium Stadium, 8th Sept).

John Oster and Carl Robinson have already been named in Mark Hughes' Welsh squad to face Azerbaijan in Baku on 4th Sept, and Northern Ireland at the Millennium Stadium on Sept 8th.