Mathew Leckie, captain of the Australian men’s soccer team, has announced that he will withdraw from the team.
The decision was reported by The Sydney Morning Herald on Friday, less than a week before the match against China in the final round of World Cup 2022 Asian qualifiers.
Lechie, 30, cited Australia’s quarantine requirement as the reason preventing him from going to the match.
“It’s a busy upcoming few months with the windows in September, October, November; three windows in three months,” he said.
“In normal times, it’s pretty difficult because it’s full on in that time of the year. Now with COVID and the rules in Australia, we would go there for 10 days, come back and quarantine for two weeks, be home for maybe a week max and do it all over again and basically do that three times in three months. I would probably be in quarantine more than I would be at home.”
According to the match schedule, Australia will play China on September 2 in Doha, Qatar, and then Vietnam on September 7. It is going to face Oman and Japan in October, then Saudi Arabia and China in November.
Lechie said he would miss the first two matches. “Then I will have to try and see where we’re at next month,” he said.
He noted that the head coach Graham Arnold had been notified of the decision.
“I told him my situation of being away for so long, being away from my family. It wasn’t easy but he understood, he always understands when it comes to family. He was obviously disappointed as well. There are a few of us over here he will miss from the squad,” he said.
Lechie, who used to play in Germany’s club Hertha BSC, signed for Melbourne City in the new season and became captain of the Socceroos in June.
Australia’s home World Cup Asian qualifier match against China was changed to Doha as Football Australia (FA) could not reach an agreement with local government to host the match in Sydney due to recent spike of COVID-19 cases in New South Wales.
However, FA is continuing discussions to bring the next two home matches against Oman and Saudi Arabia to Australia.
Source: Big News Network