aTHE national team coach of Australia, Frank Farina, may not have had too good a sleep last night if, as expected, he was awakened in the early hours by an irate Dick Advocaat, the Rangers manager.

Advocaat was furious yesterday when he discovered that, while his two Aussies, Tony Vidmar and Craig Moore, are being hauled away after today's game with Dundee United for a 16-day spell as Australia tackle their opening World Cup qualifiers, players at Leeds United, Middlesbrough and Manchester United are all being allowed to help their clubs in the next few weeks of crucial games.

''I could understand about Leeds because they are in the Champions League quarter- finals,'' he said yesterday, ''but no one told me about the others. It won't help but I will have to make a phone call.

''All I was told in a short letter was they would they would be taking my players. I had already written explaining that they were just recovered from injury and would not be 100 per cent fit yet.'

Having described the affair as a ''very silly situation'', the Dutchman went on: ''It is strange because he told me their presence would be good for the squad.''

The Australians play their games against Tonga, Fiji and American Samoa during the next two weeks but Leeds had persuaded Farina that Mark Viduka and Harry Kewel, the two best Australian players, were needed for their bid to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.

However, it now transpires that Farina has allowed others to stay in the Premiership and appears to have been selective with his dispensations. Middlesbrough, managed by Terry Venables, a former manager of the Australian side and a friend of Farina, have been permitted to keep the Aussie national captain, Paul Okon, along with keeper Mark Schwarzer, at home for their vital battle to avoid relegation from the Premeirship. Fellow relegation strugglers, Manchester City, have also been told they can keep Danny Teatro.

In contrast, Coventry City, another team fighting hard to avoid the drop, will lose their striker John Aloisi.

Manager Gordon Strachan is angry at that decision. ''We think it's a bit unfair that Okon has been allowed to stay at Middlesbrough when John has been called up. Obviously they are a team we are competing with and we find it unfair and a bit strange.''

Advocaat would go along with all of that. ''Of course, we each have different priorities, one as a national manager and the other as a club manager, but when I was Dutch coach I would not have taken one player from one club and then left another with his club.''

Meantime, the Ibrox leader had good news on the injury front. Back in the squad for the game with Dundee United today are Jorg Albertz, Claudio Reyna, Tugay, Rod Wallace and Vidmar. It is likely, too, that Arthur Numan and Lorenzo Amoruso will return next week but Ronald de Boer and Neil McCann will be a while yet.

''You can see the difference in training now. The quality is much better and the players coming back will lift morale.''

For Sergio Porrini, there are not many games at Ibrox left as he plans to return to Italy in the summer. ''I have not heard anything yet but it is early as there are 11 or 12 games to go in Italy. I will have many happy memories of Rangers and Scotland where my daughter was born.

''I believe we went very close under Dick Advocaat to getting to the second stage in Europe and I am sure that next year will be the year for Rangers to do it. This is a very good team and he will no doubt be adding three or four players to help.''

Dundee United captain Jason de Vos has two special memories of Ibrox, one when United won there in March, 1999, and five months later when he scored his first goal for his club at Ibrox.

Since then, United's record has bene poor at Ibrox but De Vos believes, with their fortunes changing for the better, it's time to start visiting the Old Firm venues again with optimism.

De Vos said: ''I remember United winning at Ibrox when I had not long been at the club. Rangers were the country's top side by far at the time, but Kjell Olofsson's goal gave us the points and with Magnus Skoldmark having been sent off with half an hour left, it made the score all the more impressive.

''That led me to believe that if we can win at Ibrox with ten men, anything is possible in football. My goal there a few months later was a header from a corner kick and, while it only served to provide a consolation that day, it reminded me that I should be scoring on a more regular basis, especially in set-piece situations.

''There's no question my lack of goals for United is an aspect on which I aim to improve - we have been working on this in training.''