The Socceroos have moved to allay fears over Mohamed Toure’s fitness ahead of their World Cup opener, insisting the young striker returned to training as normal two days out from facing Turkey.
Toure was absent from Wednesday’s training session, sparking speculation over his fitness, but the Socceroos had said they expected him to return to training on Thursday (Friday AEST).
That session was closed, meaning media couldn’t verify Toure’s attendance, but teammates Jacob Italiano and Aziz Behich both said Toure had trained.
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“He looked good. Great to have him back amongst the boys,” Behich said.
“He’s fine, running about, full of energy. So it was nice to see that.”
Italiano said with a grin: “Can confirm that Mo was there. Mo was fit. Mo is healthy. It’s all good.”
When asked if Toure had scored any ‘bangers’, Italiano said: “Yeah, a few. Him and Nestor (Irankunda), normally.”
Socceroos fans will hope young gun Toure is fit and ready to lead the line, given his importance to Tony Popovic’s attack.
Toure is due to be among 17 World Cup debutants in the Socceroos squad, but Milos Degenek, attending his third, pointed to Australia still having nine more players with experience than Turkey.
Behich, of Turkish-Cypriot descent, agreed and felt world No.22 Turkey would be feeling the pressure and emotion as expectations mount ahead of their first World Cup in 24 years.
“Obviously we have a lot of players with World Cup experience. There’s a few of us with three, some playing the fourth, a lot of boys had some last campaign in Qatar — and this is all their first time,” Behich said.
“Obviously a big nation like that comes with pressure, and being away from the World Cup, and obviously playing there, I know them, how proud they are as a nation to do well.
“So no doubt they’re going to have pressure, but we’ve just got to more focus on ourselves.
“We know the qualities they have in their squad, they have a lot of great individual players that play at big clubs, so we’re wary of that.
“We’ve worked hard, we’ve analysed them, watched videos. So the most important thing is how we perform and what we do as a team.”
Juventus attacker Kenan Yildiz and Real Madrid sensation Arda Guler are among the most dangerous prospects.
Yildiz (calf) has only just rejoined full training, while skipper Hakan Calhanoglu (calf) did so earlier this week.
Behich stressed the importance of gaining a fast start, especially after Australia conceded early against both Mexico and Switzerland before growing into those games.
“It’s just being a bit more brave right from the start, especially with the ball and the way we press,” Behich said.
“But we’ve worked on that, and I think if you go from the Mexico game to the Switzerland game, we’ve improved in the areas that we worked on during the week.
“We’re just sharpening our tools now, 48 hours out from the game, so no doubt we do need to start well and not let them get comfortable in the game.”
Other Group D opponents the United States and Paraguay face off on Friday (Saturday AEST).
