A sick Mohamed Toure has been kept away from his Socceroos teammates ahead of Australia’s FIFA World Cup opener against Turkiye in Vancouver on Sunday.
The Norwich City striker was absent from the Socceroos’ training session in Oakland on Thursday (AEST).
Sources close to Toure have revealed that the 22-year-old marksman was ill, and the decision was made to isolate him from his teammates.
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However, Toure – who looms as the Socceroos’ first-choice option at centre-forward – was expected to return to training on Friday (AEST).
“We have other players as well that can also play striker, but to have Mo is really nice for us,” Socceroos star Jordan Bos said.
“He’s a big asset for us, He’s been doing really well at his new club. He’s scoring goals and his power – everything about him – is great.”
Options to replace Toure include fellow striker Tete Yengi, who scored for Australia in last Sunday’s 1-1 World Cup warm-up draw with Switzerland, while wingers Nishan Velupillay and Nestory Irankunda could also be used in the central attacking role.
Socceroos defender Milos Degenek told reporters that they would “see” Toure “tomorrow”.
“I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to speak to you guys,” Degenek said.
Degenek was in a fighting mood ahead of Sunday’s Group D battle.
“My mentality has always been the same – there’s no stopping,” he said.
“I’d run through a wall for the boys, I’d run through a wall for this country. I have got no handbrakes in that regard.”
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Degenek was confident the Socceroos would start Sunday’s clash in a much better manner after sluggish first-half performances against Switzerland and the previous week’s 1-0 loss to Mexico.
“I’m sure with our mentality, with the way we want to play and the World Cup starting … it’s going to be a bit of a different game,” he said.
“It’s not going to be like one of the friendlies where we can see what happens, see how we get into the game and then second-half we pick it up, or after the breaks, we pick it up.
“We need to start a little bit stronger. We need to start a bit more, I’d say, aggressive and on the front foot and finish the game as we finished the last two games – a lot more positive, a lot stronger, with a little bit of oomph.”
Degenek tipped the Socceroos to be the World Cup’s “fittest” teams.
“The boys are raring to go in terms of that and I’m not afraid that we’re not going to be fit. I’m sure our fitness and our running levels are going to be second to none.”