Socceroos’ best player could miss World Cup as injury problems mount

“I’m gonna reach out to Panadol for a sponsorship,” Graham Arnold said last month, in a jocular reference to the number of World Cup-related selection headaches he was anticipating - the good kind, that is, when you have more in-form players available than spots for them in your squad. “I need those headaches.”

It might be time for something a little stronger. As Qatar draws nearer, the injuries are piling up, and the best-laid plans of the Socceroos coach are at risk of going all sorts of awry.

Injuries to key players are adding to Graham Arnold’s numerous selection headaches for the World Cup.Credit: Getty

Ajdin Hrustic, arguably Australia’s best player, is almost certain to be sidelined until the Socceroos’ opening Group D fixture against France on November 23 (AEDT). A Europa League winner with Eintracht Frankfurt last season, Hrustic rolled his left ankle while playing for his new club, Italian Serie A outfit Hellas Verona, in a 2-1 defeat to AC Milan on the weekend.

Reports from Italy suggest the 26-year-old has avoided the need for surgery but has damaged ligaments and won’t play again until after the World Cup, which is being staged mid-season for the first time to avoid the worst of Qatar’s oppressive heat.

What that means for the Socceroos is, at the moment, inconclusive. It’s unclear if it’s only the club that Hrustic won’t play for until then, or his national team too. Arnold is sending Kurt Lisle, the Socceroos’ physio, to Italy in the coming days to get to the bottom of the situation. Sources close to the team have described Hrustic as a week-by-week proposition, and said he won’t be ruled out of contention anytime soon, but it doesn’t look good.

At best, it seems Australia’s first-choice attacking midfielder will go into a clash with the defending World Cup champions on the back of limited minutes and with serious questions over his fitness. Hrustic hasn’t been playing regularly over the last couple of years, but has reached levels few other Aussies have matched of late, and has shown flashes of true genius in green and gold that Arnold would have been scheming to unlock and unleash in Doha. If he misses, it’d be a crushing blow.

Ajdin Hrustic, arguably Australia’s best player, is in doubt for the World Cup.Credit: Getty

The flow-on effects are fascinating. Logically, it would open the door for Tom Rogic, but the West Bromwich Albion recruit is only playing in fits and spurts, with only one start so far, and evidently isn’t at the career-high fitness levels Arnold has said he needs his players to reach, given the short lead-in to the World Cup and the quick turnarounds between games. Steve Bruce, the manager who brought Rogic to the club after his 10 years at Celtic, has been sacked - and Australian team sources indicate players are genuinely split on the prospect of welcoming him back into the fold, having skipped the qualifying play-offs in June for personal reasons that remain a mystery to everyone.

Another option is Riley McGree, but his move to Middlesbrough isn’t working out perfectly either. The former Adelaide United star could have joined Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic in January, but instead picked Boro in England’s second tier and hopes of a Premier League promotion push under the highly regarded Chris Wilder.

But while Celtic are playing UEFA Champions League football, Wilder was shown the door two weeks ago, Boro are fighting off relegation, and McGree has had a limited role of late.

There is better news. McGree’s Celtic snub enabled Postecoglou to sign Aaron Mooy, and the 32-year-old is winning rave reviews for his consistently good performances from a hard-marking fanbase that initially weren’t enamoured with his signing.

Mooy could play in a more advanced attacking role for Australia, but Arnold seems to be wedded to the idea of using him as the conduit between defence and midfield, which is fair enough.

Team fitness staffers have assessed Heart of Midlothian teammates Nathaniel Atkinson, who has also rolled his ankle, and Kye Rowles, who is recovering from a broken foot. The prognosis for them is much better than it is for Hrustic, although Atkinson is said to be far more likely to return to club action in Scotland than Rowles.

Socceroos assistant Rene Meulensteen, meanwhile, watched Harry Souttar’s long-awaited comeback for Stoke City’s under-23s team in the flesh on the weekend, and the early indications are the lanky Scot has lost none of his pace or defensive prowess despite his ACL injury.

Another centre-back option, Trent Sainsbury, will spend the next few weeks training with Melbourne City, with his season in the Qatar Stars League for Al-Wakrah complete, and will be hoping to put some poor recent displays for club and country behind him.

The calculation Arnold must make, for these players and all others, involves form, fitness, tactical fit, reliability and reputation.

How much club football is enough? Who has enough credits in the bank with the Socceroos to overlook a paucity of minutes? How many recently injured players is too many to take into a clash against the likes of Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappé? And what does all that mean for team synergy?

Big questions, with less than three weeks to go until Australia’s final 26-man squad will be revealed - and we haven’t even touched skipper Maty Ryan’s delicate situation at FC Copenhagen. Reach for the Panadeine Forte, Arnie.

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