McCarthy faces up to anxious week

Mancienne's England call means Wolves have 11 players away

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy finds himself keeping tabs on 11 of his players who are away with their national teams this week.

On-loan winger Carlos Edwards has a World Cup tie with Trinidad & Tobago while the rest play in friendlies.

"I wonder how many of them will play? If they're friendlies I hope they don't play 90 minutes," McCarthy said.

"One or two of them said they felt leggy to be quite honest," he told BBC WM after the win at Southampton.

Of the 10 Wolves players involved in friendly internationals, the most excited will be on-loan defender Michael Mancienne, who is heading to Germany with England.

Michael Kightly, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Richard Stearman are part of the England Under-21 squad to take on the Czech Republic at Bramall Lane.

Top scorer Chris Iwelumo targets a second cap for Scotland as they host former World champions Argentina at Hampden Park, where the the visitors will be managed for the first time by Diego Maradona.

Wayne Hennessey, David Edwards and Sam Vokes are off to Denmark with the Welsh squad, while Andy Keogh and Kevin Foley link up with the Republic of Ireland to face Poland in Dublin.

McCarthy hopes to have all 11 back in good condition in time for Saturday's home Championship date with Blackpool at Molineux.