Australia defender Circati ruled out with cruciate ligament injury

Australia defender Alessandro Circati will miss the rest of the third round of Asia's World Cup preliminaries after his Serie A side Parma announced he had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in training on Friday.

The 20-year-old started both of Australia's qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup earlier this month as the Socceroos lost to Bahrain on the Gold Coast before drawing with Indonesia in Jakarta.

Italy-born Circati was raised in Perth and chose to represent Australia despite also being eligible to play for Italy, making his Socceroos debut against New Zealand in a friendly under former coach Graham Arnold in October last year.

The Australians are fifth in their six-nation group after two matches with only the first two finishers guaranteed to progress to the finals.

The third and fourth placed teams will advance to a further series of preliminaries, which will begin next October.

Former Australia defender Tony Popovic was appointed on Monday to lead the Socceroos in the remaining World Cup preliminaries after Arnold's surprise resignation three days earlier.