Australia & Crystal Palace defender Tony Popovic was ruled out from the rest of the World Cup 2006 tournament, as he suffered a culf injury.

The Crystal Palace international had to be substituted from the end of the first half of the Socceroos match against the defending World Champions Brazil.

"Popovic is out of the Croatian game," assistant coach Graham Arnold said at the team's base in Oehringen, Germany.

"It's not real great... When a player has to come off after 40 minutes, it's the type of injury that's normally a couple of weeks (out of action)."

Tony Popovic is one of the 7 Socceroos who have family links to Croatia. Although he was born in Australia, his family is of Croatian origin.

He was looking forward for the match, as a lot have been said and allegations been made between the two national football teams before the Finals kicked-off in Germany.

Graham Arnold said that he was not happy about the development, which adds an extra headache to Australia's coach Guus Hiddink, ahead of the decisive match against Croatia.

The Socceroos only need a draw to go through the knockout stages of the first World Cup tournament in their history.

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