Socceroos midfielder Patrick Yazbek’s FIFA World Cup selection hopes have been dealt a serious blow after he suffered a quad injury while warming up for a club game.
Yazbek was due to play on Wednesday morning (AEST) for his American club Nashville against Mexican outfit Tigres UANL in a CONCACAF Champions Cup semi-final second-leg clash.
However, the 24-year-old former Sydney FC player was a late withdrawal after injuring his quad in the warm-up. He later needed crutches on the sidelines.
Yazbek, who has been capped nine times and was part of Australia’s squad for March’s FIFA Series games against Cameroon and Curacao, is set to undergo scans once swelling subsides to discover the extent of the injury.
His Nashville team lost the game 1-0 and was beaten 2-0 on aggregate over the two legs to ne knocked out of the Champions Cup
Yazbek’s misfortune comes on the heels of another of the Socceroos’ US-based midfielders, New York City star Aiden O’Neill, injuring his ankle on club duty earlier this week.
Socceroos coach Tony Popovic is poised to announce his extended World Cup squad, which will be reduced to 26 players on June 1.
Eight players – defenders Harry Souttar and Hayden Matthews, veterans Mitch Duke and Mathew Leckie, midfielder Anthony Caceres, and attacking weapons Brandon Borrello, Nick D’Agostino and Nishan Velupillay – have flown to the United States this week for a training camp.
Originally published as Socceroos midfielder Patrick Yazbek suffers injury blow ahead of FIFA World Cup
