Injuries sour Socceroos´ draw

Australia boss Holger Osieck is concerned about injuries to three of his key men after Friday’s 1-1 draw with South Korea at the Asian Cup.

Jason Culina, Luke Wilkshire and David Carney were all hurt during the game and are in doubt for Australia’s final Group C match against Bahrain on Tuesday – and possibly even longer.

Culina and Wilkshire were substituted after knee and groin injuries respectively, while Carney appeared to dislocate his right shoulder in injury-time and was in visible pain.

It is the same shoulder Carney has had surgery on in the past and his loss in central defence would be a big blow for the Socceroos.

“It doesn’t look too good but we still have to wait for the medical report,” Osieck told Fox Sports.

“But obviously it’s going to be serious injuries.”

Apart from the injuries, Osieck was pleased with his side’s performance, having watched them come from behind to salvage a 1-1 draw that leaves Australia and South Korea on top of the group with four points from two matches.

But Osieck wished they had taken advantage of the many chances they had in front of goal.

“It was a very good performance and a point … I think it’s ok. You can accept it,” Osieck said.

“The attitude of the team was first-class. I’m very happy with the way our boys showed themselves on the pitch.”

“We really tried to play very constructive, we had a number of opportunities. We only could score one goal. Normally you don’t get so many opportunities, we did today. We definitely have to be more clinical in our finish(ing).”

Osieck also leapt to the defence of senior players Harry Kewell and Lucas Neill, who have come under fire from several quarters in recent months.

“As I always said, people talk about them as if they are already over the hill. They showed today what they still can do. They are excellent players and they proved it again today,” he said.

Neill was happy with the way his players dealt with South Korea, insisting they had ‘outran’ their opponents.

“Going in the Koreans were saying ‘we’re too old’ and they’re gonna outrun us. I think we outran them and showed good stamina and spirit,” Neill said.

“It was a little bit of a scrappy game, played in great spirit. It was a great game to be involved in. Credit to both teams and I’d like to think that those two teams are going to go all the way.”