Socceroos star Mathew Leckie injured, Graham Arnold planning for no Aaron Mooy
Socceroos staff are anxiously awaiting news on Mat Leckie’s untimely injury, with early signs indicating yet another central Asian Cup figure is in significant doubt.
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Update: Socceroos staff are anxiously awaiting news on Mat Leckie’s untimely injury, with early signs indicating yet another central Asian Cup figure is in significant doubt.
Leckie went down clutching at his hamstring during Hertha Berlin’s 3-1 Bundesliga loss to Bayer Leverkusen overnight on Saturday.
The 27-year-old gingerly limped off the field and was understood to have been in pain in the hours afterwards, though Hertha have not released any details and his exact prognosis won’t be known until he receives scan results expected today.
Whatever the verdict, he’ll be up against it to play in the Socceroos’ opening group match against Jordan on January 6, and could very well be in doubt for the others against Palestine on January 11 and Syria on January 16.
Once the severity of the suspected tear is known, coach Graham Arnold must decide whether to bring Leckie into camp in the United Arab Emirates this week as planned or, if he is unable to participate even in the latter stages of the tournament, call up one of the dozen names on standby.
The loss of Leckie, a mainstay of 59 caps who has developed into one of the team’s most experienced forwards, would come as another big blow to Australia’s Asian Cup defence.
Already Daniel Arzani is ruled out after rupturing his ACL two months ago and the availability of star midfielder Aaron Mooy is expected to be confirmed sometime on Monday.
Not good news watching @HerthaBSC Mathew Leckie is coming off injured in what looks like a hamstring strain or upper leg muscle injury. Had been excellent again up to the injury. Hopefully not too bad as it would be a massive blow to our Asia Cup chances. #socceroos
— John Grimaud ðŸ‡¦ðŸ‡ºâš½ï¸ (@grimaud_john) December 22, 2018
Mooy was named in Arnold’s 23-man squad despite his English Premier League side Huddersfield Town ruling him out until February with a torn medial collateral ligament.
Socceroos physio Phil Coles travelled to the UK especially to assess the 28-year-old over the weekend, and an independent doctor was also due to conduct a third assessment in the hope he may be fit to play some role in the knockout phase.
Arnold faces yet further risk of injury through his compromise to allow more than a third of his squad, including Mat Ryan, Mark Milligan and Tom Rogic, to play for their overseas clubs on Boxing Day.
FIFA regulations stipulate he could have summoned his players into camp on December 24, but he made the move partly to appease clubs set to lose key personnel potentially until the start of February, and partly to let his squad spend Christmas with their families.
It did not stop Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers voicing his discontent over the weekend, urging Football Federation of Australia to “see sense” and allow Rogic to play against Rangers on December 29.
GRAHAM ARNOLD WORKING ON PLAN B FOR MOOY
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold says he has a Plan A and a Plan B for how to replace Aaron Mooy should the midfielder’s injury rule him out of the Asian Cup. Mooy has undergone three medical assessments on his knee since suffering the injury on duty for Huddersfield Town a fortnight ago.
First came the initial diagnosis from his club of a two-month layoff, leading to the English Premier League club ruling out Mooy from the tournament. In the past two days, Mooy and the Socceroos have asked for further assessments from national team physio Phil Coles and an independent third party. Huddersfield and the Socceroos will compare notes on Sunday (UK time) and come to an agreement on the 28-year-old’s availability.
Nobody believes Mooy will be fit for Australia’s group stage opener with Jordan on January 6 but the discussion will be whether Mooy can recover for the later stages of the tournament.
Arnold’s first choice is to select Mooy if he can play a role in the knockout phase, which begin on January 20.
But the wily coach has back-up options.
“I have two plans in my head,” he told AAP.
“One plan is to go with another attacker, because Mark Milligan can push into midfield and so can Rhyan Grant.
“Or I go for another six (holding midfielder) because the way I expect us to play is high-intensity running.
“Having so many games in a short amount of time, we have to make sure we have a lot of personnel.” Australia’s final squad lodgement date is just hours before the Jordan match but Arnold is keen to finalise his 23-man squad before Christmas. Given many players will be in action before linking up in the UAE on December 27, Arnold has a 10-man stand-by list should an injury present itself. Arnold confirmed to AAP that Ajdin Hrustic was on the list but didn’t divulge further names after seeing the heartbreak for players like Josh Brillante and James Troisi, who were cut from the World Cup squad on the eve of Russia. “I felt really sorry for those boys that missed out at the World Cup. They then become the headline,” he said.
“I don’t want that. I want these 23 boys to get the headlines. “If we do need a change to pull someone in they become a good headline not a bad headline.”
- with AAP
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