Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson is aiming for a speedy to return to fitness, despite being ruled out of the Asian Cup with a suspected hamstring tear.
Thompson picked up the injury during Victory’s 2-0 win over Perth Glory at AAMI Park on Saturday.
Being taken out of contention for January’s Asian Cup in Qatar is a cruel blow after a knee ligament injury robbed the 32-year-old of a potential World Cup appearance earlier this year.
“I worked really hard to get myself back and playing with Victory and to be a member of that 50-man squad,” Thompson said.
“Whether I was going to be in the (full) Asian squad I will never know. Again, it just seems to be bad timing – I did my knee when it was World Cup time and the Asian Cup, looks like I’m going to miss that which is disappointing.”
“But … this is just another minor hiccup that I have to overcome, like I said, I’ll come back stronger.”
Thompson, who is now awaiting the results of a scan to determine the full extent of the damage, remains confident of making a swift return to first-team action.
“I’m not sure what the results are yet,” he said.
“The doctor will look at it tonight and hopefully I’ll know more, but it’s not my knee and that’s the positive thing and hopefully it’s just minor.”
“I’ve never experienced any hammy (hamstring) problems before and I actually thought it’s just cramp. I’ve been told with hamstrings you know when you’ve done something really serious, that it’s like a stabbing pain you can feel and I’m hoping it’s nothing serious and I can get back on the pitch as soon as possible.”
“With the knee I think they said it would be nine to 12 months and I was back within seven and a half, so hopefully the body can heal quickly as it was with the knee.”
“I’ll be visiting the witchdoctor in Altona again and hopefully that will sort it out,” he joked.
Fullback Matthew Kemp can consider himself equally unlucky to be back on the sidelines after only just returning from a serious knee injury.
Looking on the bright side, the 30-year-old believes he was fortunate to avoid doing more extensive damage.
“I turned sharply, felt a bit of a tug and sort of felt a little bit worse after that,” Kemp said.
“A couple more turns and a couple more kicks and I thought I better get off before I tear it. It could have been a lot worse I think.”
“It (the groin) has pulled up pretty well and I’m predicting only a week or two so fingers crossed it’s not too serious. I’m hoping (to be back) for the Newcastle game, but you never know so we’ll see how the scan goes. It’s a very outside chance, but I never give up hope until I hear from the doc’s.”
“I was hoping to get through the rest of the year unhindered, but it’s just a minor setback and I’m not too stressed about it. I’m just going to try and get back out there as soon as possible.”
