Melbourne City gun Marco Tilio has suffered a hamstring tendon injury and is expected to miss up to six weeks of football.
In a hammer blow to the A-League Men club and the Olyroos, Tilio pulled up sore in training, with scans confirming his injury.
Tilio will miss at least four weeks, including the Olyroos' West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U23 Championship later this month.
He will be in a race against time to feature in April's U23 Asian Cup, which doubles as Olympic qualifiers.
"Last week it was soreness and then when he came back into training, when we were pushing a little bit, he kept feeling something in his hamstring," coach Aurelio VIdmar said.
"So we had him re-scanned and he has a bit of a tendon issue with his hamstring. So yep, he's out for a little while.
"At this stage we don't know, it could be anywhere up to six weeks.
"He's already feeling better, I think the symptoms will probably get better very, very quickly, but then it's about how explosive he can get in a short space of time, I'm no expert, but it's not that easy.
"So minimum will be four weeks I'd say but we just have to wait and see."
It is a frustrating development for Tilio, 22, who joined City on loan and was just hitting his straps after a difficult start to life at Celtic.
For City, who sit five points outside the top six with eight games to go, it's yet another blow ahead of Saturday's clash with leaders Wellington at AAMI Park.
"He's obviously disappointed and frustrated. It's been a tough year," Vidmar said.
"But unfortunately, these are the sorts of things that can happen in your career.
"He's still 22 years old, he's still got a long way to go in his career. He's got 10 years plus and unfortunately you're going to have these bumpy periods.
"But he's pretty headstrong, obviously disappointed, but all he can do is rehab it and get himself back as quickly as possible.
"And the timeframe is very short anyway, we have eight games - not a hell of a lot of time."
Adding to their woes, Mathew Leckie is no certainty to feature against the Phoenix after missing last week's loss to Macarthur with soreness.
Meanwhile, Jamie Maclaren will hope to snap a nine-game run without scoring.
"To be honest, he's had maybe the last four or five years where everything he's touched has turned to gold," Vidmar said.
"And unfortunately this season is the complete opposite. He just has to work his way through it."
