Jedinak Misses Australia Game As They Qualify For Quarter Finals
Australia and Crystal Palace captain Mile Jedinak missed his home nation’s second group stage game against Oman yesterday in the Asia Cup as the 31-year-old continues to recover from an ankle injury he picked up against Kuwait in the opening game of the tournament last week. The midfielder was sat in the stands watching his team-mates make it six points out of six points for the host nation of the tournament as they triumphed against Oman, winning 4-0 with goals coming from Matt Mackay, Robbie Kruse, Mark Milligan and Tomi Juric; meaning that Australia have qualified for the quarter-finals with only top spot to fight for against South Korea on Saturday.
Jedinak may miss the final game of the group stage with medical staff keeping a close eye on his injury. Speaking ahead of yesterday’s game against Oman, Australia boss Ange Postecoglou spoke about his skippers’ progress:
“We’ll assess that as we go, he’s no certainty for the Korea game,” he said. “It’s nothing major, nothing that will keep him out for a length of time but obviously with games backing up pretty quickly – from our perspective we made the decision early that he’s not available for [the match against Oman].
“Mile’s pretty keen to play obviously and if he’s anywhere near fit he will play, but at this stage we’re just taking it day by day.”
Bolasie & Appiah Prepare For African Cup Of Nations Kick-Off
The tournament begins this weekend in Equatorial Guinea after Chamakh’s home nation Morocco pulled out as the hosts of the tournament due to fears over Ebola, after the world-known disease started spreading in the continent, proposing “risks” to people of the country with people from all around the continent coming to one nation for the tournament but despite the “risks”, the tournament will go on with all players being tested for Ebola before the beginning of the competition on Saturday.
Yannick Bolasie is expected to get more action on the pitch for DR Congo compared to his Palace counterpart Kwesi Appiah with him being one of the leading players of his nation’s side who just managed to get to the finals after being named the best third-placed side during the qualification stages. On the other hand, Kwesi Appiah was a surprise call-up for Avram Grant’s Ghana squad with the striker who had been on loan at Cambridge United, scoring in the Black Stars’ final warm-up game before the squad announcement.
DR Congo start their tournament on Sunday with their opening fixture against Zambia before games against Cape Verde Islands and Tunisia who are favourites to finish on top of Group B. Meanwhile, Appiah’s Ghana face Senegal in their first game before fixtures against reputable teams Algeria and Senegal.
