Roy Keane may have to plan for the match at home to West Ham United on Saturday without two of his most influential players after Sunderland became embroiled in a dispute with the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation (T&TFF) over Kenwyne Jones and Carlos Edwards. Neither player will participate in the friendly against Jamaica this evening after being withdrawn from the squad at Sunderland's behest, leading the T&TFF to contact Fifa, football's world governing body, with the threat of invoking the five-day rule.

While Jones missed Saturday's 1-0 victory away to Aston Villa with a virus, Edwards played for 66 minutes before being substituted, with Keane explaining later that the winger was suffering from a groin strain. The T&TFF claimed that Sunderland refused it permission to seek independent verification of the injury.

While the two sides are discussing a possible compromise, it is not certain that Keane will be able to use the players on Saturday. “The decision was taken after it appeared Sunderland were unwilling to co-operate and we were left with little choice,” Shaun Fuentes, the T&TFF spokesman, said.

“It means that neither of the players can play or train for five days from the day of the [international] game. The reaction to this has been that Sunderland are now making efforts to co-operate and we are waiting for a scan for Carlos. Why they couldn't do that in the first place, I don't know.”