The 32-year-old ex-Sydney FC shot-stopper limped out of Genk training last week and missed Friday’s 4-0 league win over Antwerp.

Genk have confirmed Vukovic has suffered a hamstring injury which is expected to keep him out of action for several weeks.

The timing of the injury is a blow for Vukovic who has played 26 matches in his maiden season in Belgium’s top flight after his switch from Sydney.

Mat Ryan is likely to be Australia’s first choice at the 2018 World Cup but Vukovic is contending with Mitchell Langerak, Brad Jones, Mark Birighitti and Adam Federici to be one of the three keepers selected for Russia.

Langerak made his debut for new Japanese club Nagoya Grampus on the weekend, having only played once in six months in Spain with Levante.

Birighitti has also fallen out of favour to be second choice at NAC Breda in the Netherlands, while Federici is third choice at Bournemouth and was unable to secure a loan move in January.

Veteran keeper Jones is a regular with Dutch champions Feyenoord but hasn’t been involved with the Socceroos for years. Van Marwijk may also have young A-League goalkeepers Paul Izzo, Jack Duncan or Dean Bouzanis in contention.