The Wigan boss has 10 of his squad away on national service and isn't due to get seven of them back until late next week.

With the Premier League clash against Sunderland at the forefront of his mind, Bruce isn't thrilled at the prospect of having so many players away.

But he hopes to see Kevin Kilbane and Paul Scharner in action at some stage for the Republic of Ireland and Austria respectively.

Kilbane suffered a depressed fracture of the cheekbone in last week's 5-0 win at Hull in what was his first league start of the season.

He had surgery on Sunday to lift the bone back into place and has managed to train with the Irish squad this week ahead of their World Cup qualifiers against Georgia tomorrow and Montenegro on Wednesday.

And the 31-year-old will start the Georgia game – which is being played in Germany — at left-back, wearing a protective mask.

Centre-half Scharner has played just once this season after twisting his ankle in July and then aggravating the injury when turning out for Austria in last month's friendly with Italy.

He's approaching full fitness, and while tomorrow's qualifier against France in Vienna might come too soon for him, Scharner could play on Wednesday when Lithuania are the opponents.

Bruce told the Evening Post: "I allowed Scharner to join up with Austria, and while I don't know if he will be available tomorrow, I'm hoping he will be on Wednesday.

"Playing that one could suit us because he needs a game and I'd hope he could be available for us against Sunderland.

"As for Kilbane, he had his cheekbone put back into place on Sunday and will wear some kind of protective mask when he plays for Ireland.

"I've been there myself with that kind of injury and I've no qualms about him playing as long as he's okay about it.

"His fracture was quite high up, the surgeon just went in behind his ear and flicked the bone back into place.

"It would have been a lot worst had the damage been further down, under the eye, that operation is harder to do."

Latics have two players on England duty this weekend, Emile Heskey in Fabio Capello's squad for tomorrow's clash with Andorra in Barcelona's Olympic Stadium, while Lee Cattermole is with the Under-21s for tonight's European Championship qualifier against Portugal at Wembley.

Jason Koumas hopes to shake off an ankle injury so he turn out for Wales against Azerbaijan, the midfielder a key figure for John Toshack's side having scored nine goals in his last 12 internationals.

Further afield, Amr Zaki is due to play for Egypt against DR Congo and Henri Camara is in Senegal's attack to face Algeria.

Wilson Palacios and Maynor Figueroa are both expected to play for Honduras in Canada tomorrow and then at home to Jamaica on Wednesday.

Antonio Valencia will play against Uruguay in midweek.