Defender Chris Casement and midfielder Owen Garvan will be hoping to add to their U21 cap hauls this evening when they are in action for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland respectively.

Casement's Northern Ireland must beat Germany in Wuppertal and hope that other results go their way in order to qualify for the European Championships. The 20-year-old, currently on loan with Hamilton Academical, will be winning his ninth cap and will hope to score his second goal for the U21s.

Garvan's Ireland, who are out of the running for European Championships qualification, take on Bulgaria in Sofia this evening before a game with Portugal in Madeira on Tuesday. The 20-year-old, who has been suffering with a stomach bug in recent weeks, will be looking to win his fifth U21 cap.

Alex Bruce is away with the full Irish squad and will hope to win his second cap when they take on Georgia in their first World Cup qualfier in Mainz, Germany on Saturday, the game having moved due to the current instability in the former Soviet Republic (Five, 16.45pm).

Veliche Shumulikoski will be in action for Macedonia as his side look to get their World Cup qualification campaign off to a winning start against George Burley's Scotland (Setanta Sports One, 1pm).

The midfielder will receive an award marking his 50th full cap in the recent friendly against Luxembourg prior to the game, although there is some confusion regarding his total number of appearances and Saturday's match may actually see him reach that milestone.

Town skipper Gareth McAuley is tipped to drop out of the Northern Ireland side which travels to Slovakia on Saturday afternoon (Setanta Sports One, 4.30pm). McAuley, who has 11 senor caps, has been playing at right-back for Nigel Worthington's side but may make way for Manchester United's Jonny Evans to return.

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