UNITED KINGDOM: CRICKET - Australia look to overcome an injury crisis for their friendly match against Ghana in London

Australia midfielders Tim Cahill and Josip Skoko, and defender Lucas Neill have pulled out of Tuesday's (November 14, 2006) friendly against Ghana in London. The experienced trio will be replaced in the Socceroos squad by Michael Beauchamp, Michael Thwaite and Kasey Wehrman. Defender Craig Moore is also doubtful through injury. Cahill, one of the stars of Australia's World Cup campaign in Germany, suffered a freak injury when he collided with Everton team mate Lee Carsley in Saturday's (November 11) Premier League game against Aston Villa. "We've got our medical staff looking at it as well as the Everton staff (Cahill's injury)," said Australia's coach Graham Arnold at a news conference in London on Monday (November 13). "He's out having a MRI today, first indications are that it's not great, how long he'll be out for I don't know but what we're hearing is pretty much a minimum six weeks at best. It's a bit of bad timing for an injury for Tim he's been in great form for Everton and they'll sorely miss him, let's keep our fingers crossed that it's not too bad." The friendly match will be seen as a warm-up for Australia's challenge for next year's Asian Cup Finals being staged in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. With that in mind, Arnold has been looking to keep the more senior players as part of his set up for the Asian Cup next July. "I've had conversations, as I said, with six over 30-year-olds to give me some commitment, they've committed to the Asian Cup which is July next year in the transition period to act as mentors, to act as leaders introducing young players into the group," he said. Midfielder Brett Emerton, who plays for English Premier League club Blackburn Rovers, is optimistic that Australia can put up a good show against fellow World Cup finalists Ghana. "I think we've still got a number of experienced players in the squad which I assume there'll be a good blend of experienced and new players coming into the team tomorrow night," he said. "Hopefully we can show some of our experience to them and pull them along with us and I expect it to be very competitive tomorrow night. As Graham said we want to win every game we play in and that's how we'll approach it." The match will be played in West London at the home of English second division club Queen's Park Rangers.

ITN Source | November 14, 2006

Tags:. .introducing. .suffered. .queens. .hell. .crisis