Greek Australian striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos’ first start for Motherwell ended in cruel fashion as he suffered a suspected hamstring injury, which will likely see him miss out on the Socceroos’ World Cup qualifiers next month.
The star striker was subbed off 44 minutes into his first game in the starting eleven for Motherwell in their 2-1 defeat to Rangers, an unfortunate setback for the forward who was making just his second appearance since moving from Newcastle Jets.
Motherwell coach Stuart admitted it was incredibly disappointing to lose the forward to injury, especially as they have quite a few players out at the moment.
“The last thing we needed was an injury to our new striker Apostolos,” Kettlewell said following the Rangers game.
“It doesn’t look great at this point. There was a bit of tightness in his thigh, very quickly that turned into something a bit sharper, and something that might be a bit more significant. We need to wait and see, and assess that.”
Stamatelopoulos will now very likely miss out on the next Socceroos squad, an unfortunate outcome given he broke into the team and made his debut in June.
He is also the latest casualty with defenders Jordan Bos and Ryan Strain also currently out with hamstring injuries, which will no doubt be giving Australia coach Graham Arnold some grief.
The Socceroos’ next two fixtures will see them battle Bahrain (5 September) and Indonesia (10 September) to kick off the third round of AFC qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Australia will directly qualify for the tournament if they finish in the top two positions.
Stamatelopoulos will be hopeful that he can cement a place in the squad during the buildup to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which was apparently a big goal of his and the motivation behind him making the move to the Scottish Premiership.
