Leckie under wraps until Asian Cup crunch time

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold hopes Mathew Leckie will be fit for the knockout stages of the Asian Cup.

Mathew Leckie will be given until the last minute to prove his fitness for the Asian Cup. Picture: AAP

Mathew Leckie looks increasingly likely to stay in Australia’s Asian Cup squad, with Graham Arnold considering gambling on the hamstrung forward in the hope he can play some part in the knockout phase.

Leckie has been under a heavy injury cloud since hurting himself playing for Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin 10 days ago, with an initial assessment from Socceroos medical staff indicating the winger would struggle to participate in the tournament at all.

But the ruling out of Martin Boyle through a knee injury has left Arnold with less room to move up front.

This week Leckie has been quietly making progress in camp and the coach could well decide to keep him on board if he’s satisfied he can recover in time for the quarter-finals, or perhaps even the round of 16.

Either way, Arnold said he will give the 59-time international as late as tomorrow — two days before the Socceroos open their account against Jordan in Al Ain.

“Lecks is one that we’re monitoring,” Arnold said.

“He’s training. He’s doing as much as he can. He really has a strong will to be here.

“We can make the decision up until six hours before the Jordan game and we will use all that time, especially now with this injury [to Boyle]. I’ll probably leave that until Thursday or Friday.”

To have such an experienced presence in the do-or-die matches would be a boost for reigning champions Australia.

The Socceroos, if they top Group B that also contains Palestine and Syria, are likely to be on a collision course to face powerhouse Japan in the quarter-finals.

Craig Goodwin might perhaps feel hard done by, having missed out on the squad after earning a train-on call for November’s home friendlies but not getting a minute against either South Korea or Lebanon.

A last-gasp, matchwinning penalty against Newcastle Jets on Sunday gave Goodwin his fourth A-League goal on return from a tough stint in the Netherlands, having turned heads in October with his FFA Cup final heroics.

“I want to prove Graham Arnold wrong, I want to try and show him that I want to be there,’’ Goodwin said this week.

“It was disappointing I was (only) called into the fringe squad, but it’s a part of football.”