Tuesday Jun 20 2006 08:51
Australia defender Tony Popovic is expected to miss the rest of the World Cup after suffering a calf injury.
The 32-year-old Crystal Palace star is definitely out of Friday's Group F decider against Croatia after being forced out of the 2-0 defeat to Brazil before half-time.
"Popovic is out of the Croatian game," assistant coach Graham Arnold confirmed.
"It's not real great. When a player has to come off after 40 minutes, it's the type of injury that normally takes a couple of weeks to recover from. It's not looking real good."
The Socceroos only need a draw against Croatia to go through to the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time in their history.
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