Brandon Borrello's Asia Cup hopes are in doubt after the Socceroos forward suffered a painful foot injury playing for Western Sydney Wanderers in the A-League Men.
Sydney FC skipper Luke Brattan tackled Borrello in the opening stages of the Wanderers' 1-0 win on Saturday night and the 28-year-old pulled up sore shortly afterwards.
Borrello watched from the bench with ice on his foot and crutches by his side as his replacement Zac Sapsford iced the game with a goal in the 72nd minute.
The Wanderers initially feared that Borrello might have broken his foot but he will go for scans to determine the extent of the injury.
"It's not looking good," Wanderers coach Marko Rudan said.
"For Brandon to come off, it's never a good sign. He was feeling something in his foot, which wasn't good. Every time our medical team touched it, he was in pain.
"So we'll go through the processes and find out."
Any serious injury could leave him racing the clock to line up for the Socceroos at the Asia Cup in Qatar from January, when the Socceroos will hope to avenge their quarter-final exit in 2019.
Borrello missed selection for last year's World Cup but has since become a Socceroos mainstay following injuries to forwards such as Jason Cummings, Jamie Maclaren and Craig Goodwin.
Borrello has played seven of a possible eight games for the national team this year, most recently lining up in the World Cup qualifier against Palestine in Kuwait earlier this week.
Prior to that, Borrello scored in the 7-0 rout of Bangladesh, also a World Cup qualifier, and in a 2-1 loss to Ecuador in March.
Borrello's injury came after Sydney defended him energetically early in Saturday's game but Rudan shrugged off any suggestion the Sky Blues went too far in targeting the star forward.
"It happens, it's a derby," he said.
"In a derby, you've got to win the fight, I don't care what anybody says. Both teams gave as good as they got."
Sydney coach Ufuk Talay denied his players had made a point to neutralise Borrello.
"Brandon was just unlucky that he was the one that was getting hit," he said.
"There was no target, we don't target any (individual) player."
Sapsford and Lachie Brook, who missed the win through concussion, are in the mix to replace Borrello at club level if required.
