Australia’s Mark Viduka could miss the remainder of Newcastle United’s season, which in turn would rule him out for crucial World Cup qualifiers.
Viduka flew back to his home town of Melbourne last week for a second opinion on his troublesome Achilles injury, which has kept him out of a Toon shirt for almost five months now.
Australia’s powerful striker will be out for at least six months, which would be a blow to Australia's World Cup prospects.
Arguably Australia’s most graceful striker, Viduka has made it known to Socceroos boss Pim Verbeek that he still wants to wear the Green & Gold again.
In Viduka's absence, towering Australian striker Josh Kennedy has thrived.
Kennedy's impressive displays suggest the German-based forward will fill the void left by Viduka in the long term.
The Socceroos are currently preparing for their World Cup qualifier with Qatar at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.
The Gulf side, currently sit on top of the Socceroos’ Group A and now have Bruno Metsu, a 54-year-old Frenchman who guided Senegal to the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals as their coach.
Australia defeated Qatar twice in the previous round of World Cup qualifying, with a 3-0 win in Melbourne followed up by a 3-1 victory in Doha.
“I promise you that we will play differently this time around,” Metsu told Qatari newspaper Gulf Times.
“We know Australia will have a lot of the ball.”
Verbeek feels the Socceroos possess more than enough talent and confidence to dispose of a resurgent Qatari team.
“We have fantastic players, we are going to play our game, and we are going to win the game,” he told AAP.
Meanwhile, interim Toon manager Joe Kinnear expects a decision on Viduka next week and has prepared himself for the worst.
“We know there’s a chance Mark will need surgery which isn’t good news,” he told British newspaper The Sun.
“He’s had a scan but wants a second opinion – and so do our medical people – so he’s gone to Australia to get one.
“We’ll know more when he comes back so all we can do is wait.”