Curtis Good ruled out of South Africa friendly, but confident he’ll be fit in time for World Cup

YOUNG defender Curtis Good has been ruled out of Monday’s South Africa friendly, but is confident he’ll be fit in time for World Cup.

David Davutovic

2 min read

May 21, 2014 - 5:31PM

YOUNG defender Curtis Good has been ruled out of Monday’s friendly against South Africa but the Socceroos remained confident he would be fit for the World Cup.

Mile Jedinak, who was confirmed as Socceroos captain on Wednesday, has been bunkered down in medical room receiving treatment on his strained groin and remains in doubt for the ANZ Stadium send-off game.

The entire preliminary squad of 30 assembled for the first time on Wednesday night, with 27 travelling to Brazil on Wednesday before it’s finally culled to 23.

Good, 21, has not played since limping off with a hip flexor strain in his Socceroos debut against Ecuador in March and just did light running at Central Coast Stadium on Wednesday.

Despite his inexperience, Good is a strong chance to start as one of the central defenders in the wake of Lucas Neill’s and Sasa Ognenovski’s omissions.

“(Good is) no chance (for South Africa),’’ Postecoglou said.

“But he’s on schedule and we’ll give him every chance to be right, the physios are happy with his progress.

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“Everyone’s travelling okay, we knew there would be a few that would have to ease into it but we’re really happy with the progress of all the players who are yet to be fully integrated into the squad.

“We’ve had a staggered approach and we were always going to.

“All the players coming back so far are on schedule and our goal is that by the time we go to Brazil mid next week all the playing group will be at a similar level.

“Over the weekend we’ll make our final decisions with the 27, we’ll travel with 27, we do have a couple of games in Brazil and we’re always mindful of something going awry over there.’’

Matthew Spiranovic, who is a certainty to play in the other stopper’s position, also did light work off the back of a heavy Western Sydney Wanderers schedule and a finger operation.

Vice-captains Tim Cahill and Mark Bresciano were spared a high-intensity mini-game at the end of training having only joined the squad in recent days, while Jedinak was unsighted.

“I’ve been working closely with the physios and medical department since I got in. It’s coming along okay, whether or not Monday’s too early or not remains to be seen,’’ Jedinak said.

“I’ll try to give myself every opportunity but I haven’t been out on the field yet so make what you want of that, but it’s coming along well.’’

With just 20 of the preliminary 30-man squad involved in full-scale training, Postecoglou has not commenced any meaningful tactical work yet.

Mat Ryan (Club Brugge), Mitch Langerak (Borussia Dortmund), Josh Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus), Ryan McGowan (Shandong), Luke Wilkshire (Dynamo Moscow) and Swiss-based pair Dario Vidosic and Oliver Bozanic joined the squad on Wednesday night in Sydney.