Former Australia captain Mark Viduka has been warned that his World Cup place is under threat unless he starts playing regular first-team football between now and the end of the season.

Striker Viduka, who plays for Middlesbrough FC, has been struggling for fitness, and has been absent from the first-team since rowing with a group of supporters in the wake of the 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa on the 4th February.

He was left out of Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren's 16-man squad for last week's FA Cup win over Coventry, and also played no part in Saturday's dramatic 3-0 win over current Premiership leaders Chelsea after complaining of an illness on his arrival at the match at the Riverside stadium.

“Mark would have been on the bench on Saturday but he came in not feeling so well,” said McClaren. “He saw the doctor at the stadium and I decided there was no point risking him.”

But, with the fixtures piling up for McClaren’s team, and with Middlesbrough still involved in two cup competitions, Viduka is likely to feature in this week's UEFA Cup clash away to Stuttgart.

Viduka can ill afford a lengthy absence from the first-team squad. With Australia already starting their warm-up preparations for this summer's World Cup finals in Germany, he has to be involved in matches to be sure that Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink chooses him to join the Australia squad.

Despite having captained the Socceroos in their dramatic play-off win against Uruguay, which saw them gain a place in the World Cup Finals, the former Leeds and Celtic striker is not assured of a place in the squad.

Australia boss Guus Hiddink has warned all of his Europe-based players that they must be playing regular football in order to be considered.

Viduka has now gone eight games without playing a full 90 minutes for Middlesbrough, and has only scored one goal in his last 16 appearances.

Not only that, but Viduka’s leading rival for his place in the Australia squad, John Aloisi, is enjoying a rich vein of form in Spain’s La Liga.

The former Coventry City striker has scored five goals in five games as his club side, Alaves, have pulled clear of the relegation places in La Liga.

The Socceroos have been drawn in Group F in the World Cup Finals, along with Brazil, Croatia and Japan. Australia’s opening game of the finals is against Japan on June 12.

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