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Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson is likely to return to A-League action before the end of the year after a scan on Friday revealed that he doesn't need a major knee operation. Thompson was stretchered off during Tuesday night's FFA Cup quarterfinal win against Adelaide, raising fears that he may have suffered a career-threatening injury. But instead of a more serious anterior cruciate ligament tear, Thompson has a damaged medial ligament, according to tests. The Socceroo forward, who turns 37 next month, will miss between eight and 12 weeks, depending on how well his rehabilitation process goes. Thompson was an original member of Melbourne Victory's inaugural season in 2005-06. He's scored 95 goals in 229 matches in all competitions.
He is a four-time winner of the A-League championship and won the Golden Boot in 2006 and the Joe Marston Medal in 2007 after scoring five goals in Melbourne's 6-0 victory over Adelaide United in that year's A-League Grand Final. He had a short loan spell with Dutch club PSV in 2006. Born in Waikato to a New Zealand father and Papua New Guinean mother, Thompson is one of Australia's most popular footballers who earned icon status after scoring a world record 13 goals in a 31-0 victory over American Samoa in a 2002 World Cup qualification match. He is a close friend of Australia's record goal scorer Tim Cahill, who adopted his corner flag punching celebration. His last international goals were a hat-trick against Guam in an EAFF East Asian Cup qualifying match in Hong Kong in December 2012. Thompson has fallen out of favour under current Socceroos' boss Ange Postecoglou, but his former Melbourne Victory coach did earlier publicly back the striker to make a full recovery from his injury, in a wave of goodwill messages from players and fans.
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