Recovery mode for battered players

BATTERED and bruised Socceroos players have backed their “first-class” medical and conditioning team to have them ready for Tuesday’s ANZ Stadium decider.

Captain Mark Milligan was confident he could last 120 midfield minutes, but declared that they would get the job done inside 90.

He and goal creator Mathew Leckie nursed the most ice packs and battle scars after the feisty duel, with Milligan appearing to be targeted by Syria with midfielder Khaled Mobayed lucky to stay on the pitch.

The Socceroos’ charter flight arrived in Sydney around 2pm yesterday, some five hours before Syria, after they were whisked to Kuala Lumpur airport after the game and took off within five hours of the final whistle.

Milligan was deployed in midfield and Ange Postecoglou would prefer to keep the Melbourne Victory star there on Tuesday.

“We knew we were going to cop a bit of that (physicality). Generally you roll with those punches and you get a few back, not tonight, it just kept rolling,” Milligan said.

“That’s football. We’ll recover well, we have a big advantage over most teams.

“Our off-field staff are unbelievable and they’ll have us absolutely at 100 per cent ready to go for Tuesday.’’

While Tom Rogic started his first qualifier on the bench in 18 months, only coming on with seven minutes to go, goalscorer Robbie Kruse was also withdrawn on 70 minutes with an eye on Tuesday.

“Yeah (I can go again). This is the first time in a long time I’ve played successfully for a long time at club level,’’ Kruse said. “I’m feeling fit and strong so it’s exciting.”

Leckie said recovery would be “huge”.

“The staff we have behind the scenes is high class, so we’ll be in as good shape as we can be,’’ he said.