Australia coach Ange Postecoglou says captain Mile Jedinak could miss the rest of the Asian Cup group stages after injuring his ankle.
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Postecoglou said Jedinak, who will miss today’s game with Oman, was also “not certain” for the Socceroos’ final Group A clash with South Korea on Saturday.
The Crystal Palace midfielder was seen wearing a moonboot brace after Friday’s 4-1 win over Kuwait.
“We’ll assess it as we go for the Korea game. Obviously it’s nothing major that will keep him out for a length of time,” Postecoglou said.
He added: “We’ll assess it on a daily basis. Mile’s pretty keen to play and if he’s anywhere near fit he’ll play. But at this stage we’re taking it day by day.”
Postecoglou also said he planned to make “at least a couple of changes” to his line-up against Oman to keep players fresh for the rest of the tournament.
Friday’s thumping win left Australia in the box seat to progress from Group A as they seek to win the Asian Cup for the first time.
“If we’re going to play at the tempo we want to, 11 players aren’t going to do it so we’ll make at least a couple of changes,” confirmed the coach.
Meanwhile, South Korea coach Uli Stielike urged his players to find a killer touch against defence-minded Kuwait today. The Taeguk Warriors are far from prolific and they only defeated Oman 1-0 in their opener.
Stielike said: “Our problem was that during a very good phase when we came out for the second half we had 70 percent of ball possession and we had three clear chances,” Steilike said. “In that moment you have to kill the game. You have to make it 2-0.”