The Fulham winger played all 120 minutes of the Republic's 1-1 draw with France on Wednesday, a result that denied Giovanni Trapattoni's side a place in next year's World Cup finals.

Duff and his team-mates were left furious by Thierry Henry's handball in the lead-up to William Gallas' equaliser, which put France through 2-1 on aggregate.

Henry has since admitted he handled the ball but that did not stop Duff from launching an angry tirade against FIFA, who he believes wanted to prevent Ireland from making the finals.

He accused football's governing body of bias towards established nations after their 11th-hour decision to seed the World Cup playoffs which led to the Republic being drawn against the 1998 champions.

Hodgson admitted Duff was disappointed when he returned to Fulham's training ground but is adamant the 30-year-old has enough experience to take the defeat in his stride.

"He wasn't down in training (on Friday). I spoke to him on Thursday when he got back and on that occasion he was feeling very down about the whole affair, which is quite normal," the Fulham boss said.

"The thing about Damien is that when he gets on the field and that ball's there in front of him he has that wonderful ability to put other problems out of his mind.

"He has been through many a European and World Cup qualifying campaign so it's not the first time he has been thwarted at late notice. He knows he's getting on at 30 years of age and I'm sure he saw this as an excellent opportunity to grasp the chance but it was denied to him.

"It will take a long time for the pain to pass because he was so close to a World Cup and he didn't get there thanks to a clearly incorrect refereeing decision.

"Damien has played 70-odd international matches and to be so close, when he came back he was really badly affected by it."

Duff is expected to make the starting line-up for Saturday's game at Birmingham, where the Cottagers will be looking to extend their five-match unbeaten league run.

Birmingham's last match at Liverpool ended in controversy after David Ngog appeared to dive in the box to earn the Reds a second-half equaliser a fortnight ago.

Hodgson believes Alex McLeish's side will be buoyed by their performance at Anfield and is wary of a backlash.

"They have played well the last couple of games they have really got their game going and they are full of hope and confidence," the 62-year-old said.

"The new owners have come in and have given them a boost as always happens when there's a change of ownership so I think we're going there at a time which is a good time for them and we have to be aware of that and make certain that we are as up for the game as we can be."

Fulham will once again be without striker Andrew Johnson (groin) and captain Danny Murphy (knee) for the match after they failed to recover despite being rested for the Cottagers' 1-1 draw with Wigan.

Hodgson's plans have also been dealt a blow with the news that Diomansay Kamara may need a minor operation to heal an ankle injury which kept him out of the Wigan game.