Newcastle, Australia: Australia right-back Ivan Franjic is bullish about his chances of playing in Saturday’s Asian Cup final against South Korea despite picking up a hip injury in the semi-final.

Franjic sustained the injury late in Australia’s 2-0 victory over the UAE on Tuesday, which earned the hosts a place in their second consecutive continental title decider.

Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou quipped that he thought medical staff would have to chop off the offending limb to stop the 27-year-old from taking the field at Stadium Australia.

Franjic was equally confident he would be okay.

“It’s nothing too major and we have great medical staff so I’m sure I can get back out there for Saturday,” he told reporters after the match.

“It was towards the end of the game so we took precautions and I finished the game on the right wing. I didn’t think it was too bad so I continued to push through it.

“I’m sure I will be good for Saturday.”

Despite Postecoglou rotating players in most other positions throughout the tournament, Franjic has started at right-back in all five of Australia’s matches.

His loss for Saturday’s match would be keenly felt by the team as the player who would have been his replacement, Chris Herd, has already returned to his club after being ruled out of the tournament by a training injury.

Franjic, whose high work-rate is one of his best attributes, said a conditioning regime put in place by Socceroos staff after he joined the squad from his club Torpedo Moscow was paying dividends despite the amount of football he had played.

“I’m holding up good, every game I am getting fitter,” he added. “Working with the conditioning coach and looking at the results I am getting stronger and stronger.”

Apart from the obvious reasons for his desire to play on Saturday, Franjic perhaps has a special desire to face the South Koreans again after accepting the blame for the goal that separated the two teams when they met in the group stage.

“It would be devastating [to miss it] but I am confident that I will be out there,” he said. “I just cannot wait for Saturday because it will be a great encounter against South Korea.”