Illness and lack of football costly for Aaron Mooy and Socceroos

Aaron Mooy’s health and lack of matches led to him not being chosen in the latest Socceroos squad.

Aaron Mooy has Covid-19 and has missed Socceroos selection. Picture: Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold says the health and wellbeing of Aaron Mooy has been prioritised over Australia’s bid to qualify for the World Cup in not picking the star playmaker for this month’s matches against Japan and Saudi Arabia.

As revealed by News Corp Australia on Wednesday night, Mooy was left out of Australia’s 27-man squad for the crucial World Cup qualifiers after testing positive to Covid-19.

But the Shanghai Port midfielder’s battle with the virus wasn’t all that was stopping Mooy flying to Sydney for next Thursday night’s clash against Japan.

It’s understood Mooy’s recent lack of football is also playing on his mind.

With the Chinese Super League season not starting until April 22, Mooy has been in Scotland with family and hasn’t played a competitive match since the Socceroos’ 2-2 draw with Oman in Muscat on February 2 (AEDT).

A belief he wouldn’t be at his best due to a lack of matches, coupled with him falling victim to Covid-19, led to Mooy being left out of the squad.

Aaron Mooy will miss Australia’s games against Japan and Kuwait. Picture: AFP

“Of course Aaron’s a loss,” Arnold said.

“Aaron is a fantastic, experienced player, very calm on the ball – a very good, quiet leader.

“He leads by performance … but first and foremost, the most important thing for me is Aaron and his health and he’s got Covid at the moment.

“He only got it last Friday. He was told by the Scottish doctors that he wasn’t allowed to exercise for seven to 10 Days, so that puts it right in the midst of the (FIFA international) window.

“He wouldn’t be able to get out here until probably Monday, Tuesday and that’s too late, so because he’s in the off-season in China, and he hasn’t really kicked a ball since Oman, all that adds up to probably Aaron not being ready for these two games.”

Also missing from the Socceroos squad is Middlesbrough midfielder Riley McGree, who has a calf injury.

“There’s a lot of problems with footballers around the world with the Covid lockdowns, and that all eventuated probably from when he got Covid in Oman,” Arnold said.

“He was in lockdown for seven, eight days, comes back, gets through a couple of weeks and then fatigue sets in a little bit on his body and then he strains a calf muscle.”