RORY DELAP was today handed a World Cup lifeline by Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy after fearing he might miss out on this summer's finals in the Far East.

The Southampton midfielder has been named in a 24-strong squad for next Wednesday's friendly international against the USA at Lansdowne Road.

After the match against the USA in Dublin, the Republic then play Sunderland in Niall Quinn's testimonial at the Stadium of Light on May 14.

Two days later the Irish will be in action against Nigeria in Dublin before their departure for Japan.

Effectively there are 28 players still in the running for those 23 seats on the Tokyo flight.

McCarthy has already made it clear that his preference will be for the experienced players who have helped the Republic to the finals, finishing unbeaten in their qualifying matches in a group which included Holland and Portugal before beating Iran in a play-off.

Delap, who has been capped six times by his country making his international debut in 1998, feared he had missed the boat after being left out of the squad involved in the 3-0 win over Denmark last month. His cause was not helped by serving a two-match suspension for in March.

McCarthy's selection has been strongly influenced by injuries, with captain Roy Keane (Manchester United), goalkeeper Alan Kelly (Blackburn), winger Mark Kennedy (Wolves) and midfielder Lee Carsley (Everton) all unavailable, though the Irish boss is confident of their return before the finals.

Tottenham defender Stephen Carr has already been ruled out of the trip to the Far East because of a knee injury which has kept him out for the entire season.

McCarthy said: "I'm not worried about the absence of the four injured lads. It's better that they have plenty of time to recover before we head off for Tokyo on May 17. It would be nice to keep this little unbeaten record going in the build-up to the finals. Hopefully we can record another success against the Americans."

Meanwhile, Ecuadorian national team physio, Tony Ocampo, has arrived on the south coast to review the fitness of Agustin Delgado, and he hopes the striker could be in contention for the Everton game a week on Saturday.

Delgado had knee surgery last month, and Ocampo said: "The pain has diminished in Tino's knee. It is more the external muscle in his thigh which botheres him. It hurts whenever he flexes the knee or works with weights over 20 kilos.

"We will build up this week and the aim is for him to train normally next week and hopefully to be fit to return to the squad for the game against Everton."