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With Plan A now headed for the surgeon’s table, Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek will wait to see just who arrives in Japan next week before determining the short-term replacement for injured midfielder Brett Emerton.
Verbeek confirmed the worst in Sydney on Tuesday with Emerton to miss the remainder of Australia’s World Cup qualifying campaign after damaging his cruciate ligament while playing for Blackburn on the weekend.
Rovers officials were hopeful of having Emerton back on deck for the start of next season, but that will be of little help to Verbeek who will need to find a new workhorse down the right flank ahead of Wednesday night’s top-of-the-table qualifier against Japan.
“It’s terrible for him and secondly for his club and last but not least for us,” Verbeek said.
“Of course it’s a loss, but in my year in Australia so far we’ve always had that kind of problem, but this is a bad injury.
“He is an important player but we have other players ready and available.”
Just who is in line to fill Emerton place is up in the air, with Verbeek giving little away other than to say “Jason Culina is playing right fullback at PSV at the moment – it’s interesting, always interesting.”
In recent Socceroos matches Luke Wilkshire has switched to right back to allow Emerton to move further upfield, and given Australia’s depth of talent in the midfield, this set-up again looks likely.
Verbeek admitted it would be difficult to make a like for like replacement with Emerton.
“Okay, we don’t have players with the same quality that’s clear, we don’t have a second Brett Emerton available so we have to fill it in with other players with other qualities,” Verbeek said.
“Don’t ask me what I’m going to do, as always I will wait until after the weekend when I will have plan A, B, C and D ready for what’s going to happen.”
Emerton will return to Australia to have the surgery, with the first few weeks of his rehabilitation to be spent in Sydney.
From there he will return to England to complete his recovery with Blackburn officials hopeful of having him back on deck within six months.
The talented midfielder scored twice in Australia’s 4-0 thumping of Qatar to open the final phase of qualifying last October but missed the Socceroos last match against Bahrain due to a hamstring injury.
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