Santa Clara, June 27 (IANS) Australia’s preparations for the FIFA World Cup Round of 32 have suffered a major setback after full-back Jacob Italiano and veteran forward Mathew Leckie were ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with injuries.

The Socceroos confirmed on Saturday that Italiano had picked up an adductor injury in training, while Leckie suffered a hamstring strain in Australia’s group-stage clash with the United States. Both players missed Australia’s 0-0 draw with Paraguay on Thursday, a result that kept the Socceroos in contention for the knockout round.

Leckie’s absence is even more glaring given his heroics at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where his winner against Denmark sent Australia into the knockout stage. The 35-year-old had come through an injury-riddled season with Melbourne City to earn a fourth World Cup appearance.

“I saw first-hand this year what he had to do to get back on that pitch for us at Melbourne City and then what he did in Sarasota,” Behich told reporters, referring to Australia’s pre-World Cup training camp in Florida.

“He left no stone unturned and it’s a credit to him, it’s not easy, not just physically but also mentally at his age.”

With the loss of Italiano, coach Tony Popovic had to experiment for Paraguay with usual left-back Jordan Bos pushed over to an inverted wing back on the right and Behich taking up the space on the left. Bos responded with an Australia Man-of-the-match showing and combined brilliantly with Cristian Volpato for the bulk of the Australian danger. Behich did reveal the move had been practiced during a recent training session.

“It’s something we worked on during the week in our tactical session and it worked really well, and I think it worked well again last night,” he said.

“That’s why we got the result that we deserved.”

–IANS

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