Sydney FC's Socceroos defender Alex Grant will spend time on the sidelines after sustaining a calf injury against Adelaide United last Saturday.
Coach Ufuk Talay was quick to substitute the 31-year-old after he went down fiddling with his right calf in the 40th minute.
The defender was a no-show in the Sky Blues' ACL Champions League 2 semi-final against the Lion City Sailors on Wednesday night.
On Friday, Talay was reluctant to put a time frame on when the defender would return.
"Alex Grant won't be back for a while," he said.
"He'll be out for a longer period than expected."
Grant was named in the Socceroos' squad for their FIFA World Cup qualifiers last month against Indonesia and China.
It came as a surprise for the 31-year-old, who didn't sign with Sydney FC until January after he was let off by his Chinese club Tianjin Jinmen Tigers midway through last year.
However, the Sky Blues have to focus beyond Grant's injury for their crucial match against ladder leaders Auckland FC on Saturday in Sydney.
Then on Wednesday, they'll have to overcome a 2-0 deficit after going down in Singapore.
Winger Joe Lolley knows the importance of these matches, where the Sky Blues are striving to hold onto sixth place on the A-League ladder and make their first Asian final.
"It's like a cup final. Every game is hard, every game is difficult," Lolley said.
"We're the team that can create a lot of chances and score a lot of goals.
"It's been a roller-coaster of a season. Last (ACL) game against Jeonbuk they scored two goals and we scored three back. Football can change so quickly."
Talay said his side's performance in Singapore was substandard, but backed them to overcome that result.
"I was disappointed. We didn't produce what we could have. We struggled to break them down," he said.
"We've been down 3-1 in a shorter period of time, and we've got 90 minutes to score two goals."
