Injuries to key players are adding to Graham Arnold’s numerous selection headaches for the World Cup.Credit:Getty
Ajdin Hrustic,arguably Australia’s best player,is almost certain to be sidelined until the Socceroos’ opening Group D fixture against France on November 23 (AEDT). A Europa League winner with Eintracht Frankfurt last season,Hrustic rolled his left ankle while playing for his new club,Italian Serie A outfit Hellas Verona,in a 2-1 defeat to AC Milan on the weekend.
Reports from Italy suggest the 26-year-old has avoided the need for surgery but has damaged ligaments and won’t play again until after the World Cup,which is being staged mid-season for the first time to avoid the worst of Qatar’s oppressive heat.
What that means for the Socceroos is,at the moment,inconclusive. It’s unclear if it’s only the club that Hrustic won’t play for until then,or his national team too. Arnold is sending Kurt Lisle,the Socceroos’ physio,to Italy in the coming days to get to the bottom of the situation. Sources close to the team have described Hrustic as a week-by-week proposition,and said he won’t be ruled out of contention anytime soon,but it doesn’t look good.
At best,it seems Australia’s first-choice attacking midfielder will go into a clash with the defending World Cup champions on the back of limited minutes and with serious questions over his fitness. Hrustic hasn’t been playing regularly over the last couple of years,but has reached levels few other Aussies have matched of late,and has shown flashes of true genius in green and gold that Arnold would have been scheming to unlock and unleash in Doha. If he misses,it’d be a crushing blow.
Ajdin Hrustic,arguably Australia’s best player,is in doubt for the World Cup.Credit:Getty
The flow-on effects are fascinating. Logically,it would open the door for Tom Rogic,but the West Bromwich Albion recruit is only playing in fits and spurts,with only one start so far,and evidently isn’t at the career-high fitness levels Arnold has said he needs his players to reach,given the short lead-in to the World Cup and the quick turnarounds between games. Steve Bruce,the manager who brought Rogic to the club after his 10 years at Celtic,has been sacked - and Australian team sources indicate players are genuinely split on the prospect of welcoming him back into the fold,having skipped the qualifying play-offs in June for personal reasons that remain a mystery to everyone.
Another option is Riley McGree,but his move to Middlesbrough isn’t working out perfectly either. The former Adelaide United star could have joined Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic in January,but instead picked Boro in England’s second tier and hopes of a Premier League promotion push under the highly regarded Chris Wilder.