2018 World Cup: Juric favourite but Cahill, Maclaren not out of reckoning to replace Nabbout for Peru

JURIC, Cahill or Maclaren? Socceroos coach Bert van Marwijk faces the biggest selection call of his brief tenure over the choice of his front man for the World Cup showdown against Peru.

Will it be Juric, or will it be Cahill to face Peru? Picture: AAP.

SOCCEROOS coach Bert van Marwijk faces the biggest selection call of his brief tenure over the choice of his front man for Wednesday’s (EST) World Cup decider.

Australia needs a win against Peru in Sochi and France to beat Denmark in the simultaneous kick-off, while goals and even bookings could become factors as they try and reach the knockout phase for just the second time.

Andrew Nabbout, who has started up front in five of the six games under the man who gave him his Socceroos debut last March, will miss the Peru clash in Sochi after dislocating his shoulder.

Will it be Juric, or will it be Cahill to face Peru? Picture: AAP.

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Tomi Juric is favoured to replace Nabbout after coming on in the opening two games in Russia, amid growing calls for record goalscorer and talisman Tim Cahill to be unleashed from the start.

Last-ditch call-up Jamie Maclaren is the only other recognised striker in the 23-man squad.

Swiss-based Juric, who’s scored eight goals in 37 games, said he was ready to start if called upon.

“I’ve prepared every game the same. We’ll see now what the boss thinks, who’s the best for the team. I just have to knuckle down and keep doing what I’m doing,’’ Juric said.

“I can’t change (what’s happened). I’ve just got to keep my head down and work.

“I feel good, no problem. It’s what it was in the first place – just a little maintenance that I had to sort out for myself but it was never an issue.”

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Van Marwijk continued his stubborn stance regarding selection queries, but admitted they needed to be more ruthless if they were to advance from Group C.

“I will not discuss with you here about our line-up. You saw in the end players are tired, we are fit enough to play in the third game,’’ van Marwijk said.

“At this level to create so many chances against Denmark, I must be satisfied about the way we play and creation of chances. Only thing we have to do is put the ball in the goal.”

Optimistic Nabbout, who worked tirelessly but could not add to his solitary international goal, did not rule out playing again in Russia, although it appears a long shot after a second shoulder dislocation.

“Obviously it was disappointing. There was a lot of emotions running through me after the game, but we’ll just see how it settles down in the next few days and we’ll go from there,’’ Nabbout said.

“I can’t really say much now because the doc hasn’t even had a chance to look at it.

Andrew Nabbout says he expects not to miss too much time.

“I’ve always got positive thoughts on my mind so hopefully if I rehab it quick enough, anything can happen. I recovered pretty quick from the last one (back running within a week and a half).

“It’s happened before, they usually say the second time’s a bit quicker recovery time so ill be alright.

“I’ve started rehabbing it and we’ll see how we go from there. When I landed on it, it was in an awkward position and it just popped out.”