Australia captain Jedinak declares himself fit for Brazil

Australia captain Jedinak declares himself fit for Brazil

MELBOURNE - Australia captain Mile Jedinak has recovered from a groin injury and is targeting a full match for the Socceroos when they take on Croatia in their last warmup for the World Cup.

The Crystal Palace skipper missed Australia's farewell match against South Africa, a 1-1 draw in Sydney last week, after sustaining the injury in the Premier League team's final match of the season.

A scrappy Australia failed to impress in the tepid encounter with Bafana Bafana, and the 29-year-old defensive midfielder will be important for the Socceroos' razor-thin chances of advancing in Brazil from a group featuring champions Spain, the Netherlands and Chile.

Jedinak, who has taken over from long-serving skipper Lucas Neill, said he aimed to play a full 90 minutes against the Croatians in Salvador, in Brazil's Bahia state, on Friday. "Yeah that's the plan, hopefully it all goes well," Jedinak told Australian broadcaster Fox Sports. "I've been feeling really good and I'm just really happy to be amongst the boys and getting stuck into training."

Only World Cup veteran midfielder Mark Bresciano remains under a fitness cloud out of the entire squad of 23 ahead of the Socceroos' opening match against Chile on June 13, coach Ange Postecoglou said.

"Apart from Bresh (Bresciano), our goal, plan was to have 23 players ready to go by the time the first game comes around. Bresc has still got seven days to get there," Postecoglou said.

"Everyone else has worked really hard to make themselves available and tomorrow night we're going to have a full list so from my perspective as a coach, that's what we've been working towards so I'm pretty happy with that."

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