The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Asian Cup opponents worry about us: Leckie

Autoplay in... 6 (Cancel)
Up Next No more videos! Playlist is empty -
Replay
Cancel
Next
24th January, 2019
2

Socceroos forward Mathew Leckie believes Australia’s Asian Cup opponents are worried about facing the defending champions.

Leckie is set to make his first start of the tournament in Friday’s quarter-final against host nation the UAE after returning from a hamstring injury in the round-of-16 penalty shootout win over Uzbekistan.

The 27-year-old says he’s pulled up well after his 60 minutes against the White Wolves, where he fired the winning penalty of the shootout.

Leckie is one of eight players who won the Asian Cup in 2015 and says he can’t see any reason why Australia can’t repeat that success.

“Our expectation is to go all the way. We’re not here to just participate,” Leckie said.

“We know we’re one of the strongest teams in Asia, we’ve proved that in the past few years and I think the way we’ve played over the games so far – although we lost to Jordan, we dominated that game as well – any team that comes up against us is scared or worried how they’re going to come up against us.

“We’re definitely a strong side in this tournament.”

Leckie’s return to the starting XI is a boost for coach Graham Arnold with midfielder Tom Rogic suspended for the clash with the UAE.

Advertisement

The Hertha Berlin star admitted Rogic would be a loss for the Socceroos but believed the team had the depth to cope with the 26-year-old’s absence.

“Tommy’s an important player, obviously. He’s played a big part so far,” Leckie said.

“I’m sure whoever comes in tomorrow will do a great job. We’re confident in all 23 players we have here.”

close