In a match Trinidad and Tobago can hardly afford to lose, Guatemala face an injury cloud over the availability of ace striker Carlos Ruiz for the upcoming CONCACAF World Cup 2010 qualifier between the teams in Guatemala City on October 11.

Ruiz suffered a knee injury and had to miss last Saturday's US Major League Soccer (MLS) clash for Toronto FC against Houston Dynamo.

Toronto FC coach John Carver revealed that Ruiz is working to regain his fitness, but that he was not sure to play in the qualifying match.

"Carlos is (recovering) day to day," said Carver earlier this week.

"He is getting better all the time and hopefully he will be able to join in training towards the end of the week. He's very close to being back."

Ruiz is an instrumental member of the Guatemala attack and sparked a 4-1 come-from-behind victory in a home qualifier against Cuba last month with a double.

T&T defender Julius James, another call-up for the qualifier and Toronto FC player, is also in danger of missing next week's match after sustaining a knee injury.

The coach did say, though, that both players will be monitored closely and will not be released for international duty if they are unable to line up for the club this weekend.

"Julius did some training this morning...we will assess him by the end of the week. If those guys aren't available for us on Saturday, they won't be going away on international duty."

Trinidad and Tobago had more encouraging news from English club Sunderland, as manager Roy Keane announced that T&T striker Kenwyne Jones has made "good progress" in his recovery from a knee injury, which he sustained during the T&T Football Federation's June 1 centenary exhibition match against England at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, which the visitors won 3-0.

"Both Kenwyne and Martyn Waghorn are making brilliant progress. They both saw the surgeon last week and he was absolutely delighted with the two of them," Keane said.

Jones started running last month and had targeted either the first week of October for a return but it now looks likely that he may have to wait slightly longer.

"I'm slowly getting back there," Jones told TTFF media officer Shaun Fuentes.

"I had targeted the game on Saturday (vs Arsenal). I'm not going to push it too much but I'm just thankful to God that I can be back on my legs again and get back to training.

"I want to be playing but I want to make sure I am 100 per cent and I will be working totally towards that."