Kevin Harmse is unavailable to Toronto FC because of World Cup commitments. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)

Toronto FC announced Tuesday that five players have been called up by their respective national teams for upcoming World Cup qualifying games.

Midfielders Kevin Harmse (Canada), Carl Robinson (Wales), and Amado Guevara (Honduras), defender Tyrone Marshall (Jamaica), and forward Carlos Ruiz (Guatemala) will be unavailable for Toronto’s next game against FC Dallas on Oct. 11 (CBC Bold, CBCSports.ca, 8:30 p.m. ET).

The Major League Soccer club said all five players will be back in Toronto in time for the team’s final home contest of the regular season against the Chicago Fire on Oct. 18 (CBC Sports, CBCSports.ca, 3:30 p.m. ET).

Toronto FC coach John Carver told reporters that other players, such as American defender Marvell Wynne and Trinidadian teammate Julius James, could be called up by their countries later this week if any injury problems occur on their teams.

"I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that all the guys on the U.S. team are fully healthy," Carver said.

Persistent knee problems prevented Ruiz from playing in Toronto's last two games.

Carver said the forward is on the mend and that's why he's allowed him to fly out to join his national team ahead of their games against Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba

But Carver has spoken with Guatemala's coach and they've reached an agreement that Ruiz will only play in the World Cup qualifying games if he is given a clean bill of health by the team's medical staff.

"I don’t want him playing for his country and then have him come back here and he's injured again," Carver said. "They agreed — and I've spoken to Carlos about this — they would only play him if he's 100 per cent healthy."

Losing players due to international duty is nothing new to Carver.

Last month, he saw his club lose a 3-1 decision at home to Chivas USA while missing nine players who were off playing for their national teams.

Although Toronto won't be missing as many players on Saturday, the timing couldn't be worse.

'You have to deal with it'

Toronto is fighting for its playoff life — it sits three points out of a playoff spot with only three games left in the season — and it’s critical that the team wins in Dallas in order to have any chance of qualifying for the post-season.

Still, Carver won’t use the absence of players as an excuse.

"You just have to prepare the team as best as you can," he said. "I suppose the fortunate is that we don’t have as many guys away this time around.

"But we're going into a game with so much at stake and you're not at full strength. You have to deal with it, you have to get on with it and the pleasing thing is we still have a slight chance of making the playoffs after so many people wrote us off."

Harmse was named to the Canadian roster last week and is currently in Florida with the rest of Dale Mitchell’s squad as they prepare to face Honduras on Oct. 11 in San Pedro Sula, followed by a trip to Edmonton to play Mexico four days later.

Canada and Jamaica are tied for third place in their CONCACAF semifinal qualifying group with one point apiece after three games.

Mexico leads the group with nine points, followed by Honduras (six points).

Only the top two teams in the group move on to the final qualifying round, so Canada needs to win two of its final three games to have a chance to advance.