Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou will give Mile Jedinak until the very last minute to prove his fitness before facing United Arab Emirates in Tuesday night’s World Cup qualifier.
The Australian captain hasn’t trained since touching down in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, and is in severe doubt for the match.
The camp hasn’t given details of the injury, with Jedinak describing it as a knock from Thursday night’s 2-0 win over Iraq.
Postecoglou has until two hours before the 7:30pm kickoff (1:30am Wednesday AEST) to submit his squad for the UAE match and told reporters he would take any decision down to the wire.
“We’ll give him every chance to recover and see whether he’s available on game day,” he said.
“When we’re in camp we understand things even happen on game day where we need to change the line up. That’s happened in the past and no one’s even known about it.
“We’re hoping he’ll be ok but if he’s not then we’ll be able to bring in somebody else to do the job.”
Mark Milligan is the obvious candidate to fill Jedinak’s boots, but the 31-year-old was deployed usefully in defence against Iraq.
If Milligan shuffled forward, Matthew Spiranovic could take up his usual place in the heart of defence.
But Postecoglou – who counts selection surprises as his stock-in-trade – could also throw Jackson Irvine into the role, or use Aaron Mooy or Massimo Luongo deeper.
All three play as sitting midfielders for their English Championship clubs.
Australia are looking for their first win in the Middle East under Postecoglou after three unsuccessful efforts.
Opposing coach Mahdi Ali said that record didn’t give his side an advantage.
“I don’t believe in history. I believe only in what the team is doing at this moment,” he said.
“I don’t know what happened before, but what I know is on the pitch the team is very well prepared.”
Griffo
Roar Guru
I belive Postegcoglou has said our weakness will be around the box in the free kick situation. Agree in the sense of the expected conditions, being 80% may not be enough for the full match, but will it be good enough to the 70th minute? I feel Jedinak will have to play exceptionally well and break up play in this match; another knock may see him off earlier than needed. Milligan to take on Jedinak's role is a no-brainer, just leaves who would fill the CB role. Though as mentioned, Ange might keep Milligan at CB and deploy someone different as the opposite of what people expect ;) Definitely a point from this game is needed. As Asian Champions we should not be losing this game, even with conditions and previous history. But three points would be an outstanding result I feel.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Tough game indeed. We will be gunning for all 3 points however 1 point will still be a decent result.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Australia are looking for their first win in the Middle East under Postecoglou. Shows how tough a challenge this is going to be. Probably better in these tiring conditions if Jedi doesn't play half fit. His form is not so good of late, so leave him out, bring in Spira as CD and move Millsy into the main midfield holding role. Interested to see the final team selection and tactics. Will we try and dominate possession and control the tempo or let them play into our half and go in for the counter attack. UAE beat Japan on free kicks and penalty, so need to be very disciplined and keep their attackers quiet.