Sept 28, V7N - Australia's national team defender Alessandro Circati has suffered a significant setback after his Serie A club Parma announced that the 20-year-old ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during training. This injury will rule him out for the remainder of the third round of Asia's World Cup qualifiers, a blow to the Socceroos as they aim to recover from a shaky start.

Circati had recently featured in both of Australia’s qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup earlier this month. The team endured a 1-0 defeat to Bahrain on the Gold Coast and followed it up with a 1-1 draw against Indonesia in Jakarta. Circati, who was born in Italy and raised in Perth, made the decision to represent Australia, despite being eligible to play for Italy. He made his Socceroos debut in October 2022 in a friendly against New Zealand under then-coach Graham Arnold.

Australia currently sits fifth in their six-nation group, with only the top two teams earning automatic spots in the World Cup finals. Teams finishing third and fourth will have to go through an additional round of qualifying matches next October.

This injury comes at a time of transition for the Australian squad, as former defender Tony Popovic was recently appointed head coach following Graham Arnold’s unexpected resignation. Popovic now faces the challenge of guiding the Socceroos through the rest of their World Cup campaign without one of their promising young defenders.

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