Inspirational captain Mile Jedinak is set to return for Australia as the Socceroos and undefeated China battle for a place in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup.
The Crystal Palace midfielder was injured in Australia’s opening Group A win against Kuwait, and sat out the 4-0 drubbing of Oman and Saturday’s narrow loss to South Korea.
“If selected, I’ll be ready. That goes without saying,” said Jedinak.
“Sitting out the last couple of games hasn’t been easy. But it’s given me a little (bit) of time to see what other ways I can help,” he added. “Do I think I will be affected by lack of game time the last couple of games? Probably not, but that’s just me, we will have to wait and see.”
Jedinak’s return from an ankle injury is a massive boost for coach Ange Postecoglou, who is expected to return to his first-choice attack of record scorer Tim Cahill and Bayer Leverkusen forward Robbie Kruse.
China, meanwhile, are full of confidence after three straight wins saw them finish top of Group B.
And manager Alain Perrin said: “Everything has gone well up to now. Beijing is very cold right now so we want to enjoy the warm weather here for a little bit longer. Australia is a good, strong team but we will continue to move forward.
“They are at home and have quality players like (Tim) Cahill who are tough and have technical ability. But if our players play with the spirit they have had so far, I think we’re in for a very good result.”
