Australia will be forced to make changes for their final World Cup group match against Paraguay in Santa Clara on Thursday (Friday 5am AEST), after a second player from their starting XI against the USA was ruled out with an injury.
The right-back Jacob Italiano picked up an adductor injury at training this week and will miss the Group D finale, joining the winger Mat Leckie, who suffered a hamstring strain against the USA.
Tony Popovic remained coy over their replacements. “We’re always considering all possibilities because we’ve always shown faith in every player that’s here,” the coach said. “Since we’ve started this journey, every player that’s in our squad knows he has a chance of playing and that’s no different for tomorrow.”
Jason Geria, who played on the right of central defence in the second half against the USA, and Kai Trewin – who started for the Socceroos at full-back in the warm-up match against Switzerland – are the most likely replacements, but Popovic did not rule out a change to his system.
More conjecture surrounds the replacement for Leckie. Nestory Irankunda, Connor Metcalfe and Cristian Volpato – who starred in the final half an hour against the USA – have made strong claims for selection.
Popovic was asked directly about the benefits of playing the fan favourite Irankunda from the start, compared with bringing him off the bench, but he declined to elaborate on his thought process. “We’ll keep that at the basic level of analysis, which is, people are happy if a player plays and people are unhappy if they see a player they like that doesn’t play,” he said.
“We played nine players [against the USA] that played the first match so we’re more disappointed in the performance, not so much in who played and who didn’t play. We improved that performance in the second half, which really pleases us, and the players that came on made an impact.
“Whoever starts tomorrow I know can build a strong foundation and whoever comes on can finish what we’ve started.”
The Socceroos will secure second place with a win or a draw against Paraguay, who are missing the suspended Miguel Almirón. The winger, who spent six years at Newcastle in the remier League, was sent off for covering his mouth in a confrontation during his side’s 1-0 victory over Turkey.
