Vidmar Out; Valeri In

Broken ribs will prevent Tony Vidmar from playing for the Socceroos when they face Bahrain this week in Asian Cup action. The vetran defender from NAC Breda will be replaced by Carl Valeri, a promising youngster who gets his paycheck from Inter Milan. This isn’t the best news for an Australia side that is filled with young, inexperienced players, but the silver lining is that Valeri might get to see some action. I really like the kid and think he has a lot of potential. Throwing him to the wolves at this age will only make him stronger when he becomes a fixture in the Socceroos lineup.