Asian Cup: Mathew Leckie fighting to be fit for Asian Cup round of 16

Mathew Leckie is ‘touch and go’ for the Asian Cup’s round of 16 as the Socceroos take a cautious approach with his hamstring.

Mathew Leckie in action for his German club side Hertha Berlin last month.

Mathew Leckie is “touch and go” for the Asian Cup’s round of 16 as the Socceroos take a cautious approach with his hamstring.

Leckie hasn’t featured at all in the tournament thus far after injuring himself playing for Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin just before Christmas.

Coach Graham Arnold opted to gamble on the experienced forward after observing positive progress early in camp and in light of Martin Boyle’s untimely departure through injury.

The 27-year-old has gradually stepped up training over the past fortnight and is close to returning to the bench for Tuesday morning’s (AEDT) first knockout tie. But assistant coach Rene Muelensteen said he was no guarantee.

“He’s touch and go,” Muelensteen said. “I’m not sure whether he’s fine for this game because we want to eliminate every risk.

“We’re pushing him every day … we want him confident stepping over that line and going. Because when we do that we want them to stay there for all the rest of the games, not just one. That’s that fine line where the medical department and strength and conditioning department and himself.

“It’s been the right decision to keep him in because he’s an important player for us … it will give the team another boost if you’ve got somebody like that coming back in the ranks.”

Josh Risdon almost certainly won’t figure, having not yet recovered from his groin injury, leaving Rhyan Grant to continue his national team breakthrough.

Andrew Nabbout’s situation is less clear after the forward re-injured his groin on the eve of the final group match against Syria.

A Socceroos spokesman said Nabbout’s scan results showed no further damage and he was a chance to figure in the round of 16 — though other sources in camp say that’s doubtful.

“He’s fine to jog. He’s fine to do a lot of the work but when he had to sprint and go full pace he could still feel it,” coach Graham Arnold said. “He came to me and said, ‘Look I can’t play at 60-70 per cent. I don’t want to let the boys down’.

“That’s the type of atmosphere and environment that we have. The team is number one and the individual is number two. He was thinking about the team.”

The Socceroos will definitely get a boost through the return of Trent Sainsbury, who was suspended for the Syria game but is set to slot straight back into central defence alongside Milos Degenek, allowing Mark Milligan to shift back to the midfield.

The Socceroos have almost a week’s break before playing one of Uzbekistan or Japan, a fixture decided overnight when they faced off for top spot in Group F.

Arnold’s squad had yesterday off and were set to return to training today.

Jackson Irvine felt a less-than-smooth group stage had, in a sense, hardened the players.

“Especially for some of the younger guys who haven’t been involved in tournament football before, it probably taught them a lot of lessons,” Irvine said.

“I think sometimes we can be still a little naive and put ourselves in trouble, and that’s something that only comes with experience and playing more and more. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.

“Not in a major sense, I don’t think we cause ourselves too many problems … but we have to see that sometimes the biggest threat to us is ourselves.

“If we can iron out some finer little details, we can make games a little easier.”