Socceroos captain Lucas Neill says the loss of Brett Emerton will be hard to cover. Emerton has been ruled out of the Socceroos World Cup qualifier against Bahrain later this week and Neill spoke of the hole that will need to be filled because of the midfielder's absence.

"Especially after last game with two goals and arguably a man of the match performance," Neill told the ABC.

"So he's always going to be missed, he's a great athlete and very important part and member of the squad. "We wish him a speedy recovery along with everyone else who won't be here and we hope we can set it up nicely for Australia in February, March."