The in-form striker was expecting to get a chance to establish himself as the green and gold’s main man
Adam Taggart’s participation in Australia‘s first World Cup qualifier is in question after the star forward was absent from his K-League team’s victory with a hamstring injury.
The 26-year-old didn’t feature in the squad for Suwon Bluewings’ 1-0 win over Jeju United on Friday night, less than 24 hours after the Socceroos squad was named, following a niggle suffered seven days prior in a defeat to Gyeongnam.
While Suwon manager Lee Lim-saeng said the injury wasn’t serious in his post-match press conference, Taggart’s chances of playing in Socceroos qualifier on the road against Kuwait in only 11 days are in doubt – particularly considering his injury history.
His career, including a stint at Championship club Fulham, has been marred by soft tissue injures and it was only in May that he missed three K-League games because of a leg injury.
Taggart has enjoyed a breakout season in Korea’s top-flight with his 16 league goals putting him four clear in the division’s golden boot race.
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold was expected to recognise Taggart’s form by giving him an opportunity to play in the September 11 match as the team’s leading forward – having only played one game for his nation since starting the final 2014 World Cup group match against Spain.
Melbourne City’s Jamie Maclaren and Apostolos Giannou of AEK Larnaca are the other strikers in the Australian squad, with new Melbourne Victory signing Andrew Nabbout and Tomi Juric, who joined CSKA Sofia during the week, further options to be brought into the team.
It wasn’t the only bad injury news for the green-and-gold on Friday, with J-League-based goalkeeper Mitch Langerak forced to limp off the field with a foot injury after making a save in Nagoya Grampus’ 2-1 defeat against FC Tokyo.
Major blow for Nagoya as Langerak injures his foot saving a shot and is forced off. Major blow for him personally as well having been called up by the Socceroos earlier
— Sam Robson (@FRsoccerSam) August 30, 2019
Brighton shot stopper Mat Ryan is the undisputed no.1 in the Socceroos line-up but the backup role is being contested by Langerak and Sydney FC’s Andrew Redmayne following the Achilles injury suffered by Danny Vukovic.
The Socceroos will be hoping to get off to a flying start in the opening qualifier against Kuwait – a team that they defeated 4-0 in October 2018 in what was Arnold’s first match in charge of his second national team stint.
Australia’s first home qualifier will come against Nepal in Canberra on October 10 with Jordan and Chinese Taipei the other teams in their group.
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