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Former skipper Craig Moore is delighted about his Socceroos recall but doubts he’ll appear in Pim Verbeek’s starting team to play Qatar.
Moore today played down his chances of being chosen ahead of Chris Coyne in Australia’s central defence despite being picked in the provisional 35-man squad for the October 15 World Cup qualifier at Suncorp Stadium.
Verbeek was quick to recall the in-form 32-year-old after he recently announced he was prepared to end his international retirement if required for the fourth stage of qualifiers.
Due to Moore’s invaluable experience, leadership and hardness, many experts see his inclusion means certain selection in defence next to Lucas Neill.
The Queensland Roar captain has also put some impressive A-League form on the board in recent weeks in front of Verbeek, who labelled his last-start effort against Melbourne as the “perfect game”.
But Moore felt that having spoken to long-time friend Verbeek, the Dutchman was set to reward the team which beat Uzbekistan 1-0 in Tashkent last month.
“He’s been extremely happy with the way things have gone in the last couple of (Socceroos) games, the team has done very well and got very good results and to be honest I don’t really see the starting 11 changing,” he said.
“That’s international football and if a team’s doing well and not making mistakes then why should it change?”
While he may have also shown some signs of modesty, the former Glasgow Rangers skipper made no bones of the fact he’d love to play in his first international since his “retirement” game against Qatar in Melbourne in February.
“I’m extremely happy to be involved again,” Moore said. “It’s a nice reward for the way things have gone in the last couple of games for myself. It’s great to be back involved again.
“I think everybody that knows me knows that I’ll give 100 per cent and I’ll be looking to make an impact.
“We’ve still got a domestic game to go before hand so I’m not looking too far ahead.”
Verbeek will probably make at least two changes to his starting team but the forced changes are restricted to the midfield with Carl Valeri suspended following a late yellow card against Uzbekistan and the likes of Jason Culina and Tim Cahill fit and available again.
Jacob Burns started in Tashkent after Culina fell ill before the match and looms as a possible bench option.
But the player most to fear from Moore’s recall is English lower-division surprise-packet Coyne, who stood tall in a five-man defensive line against the Uzbeks.
Moore denied he had any regrets about his premature international retirement which was capped with a 3-0 win at the MCG, but was unsure how long his second coming may last due to his fitness with the short nature of the A-League season.
Moore distanced himself from Roar coach Frank Farina’s assertions that Verbeek would be wasting everyone’s time by picking the veteran but not starting with him, comments which drew the ire of the national coach.
“I don’t want to get into it as much but he (Farina) is concerned about putting out the best team for Queensland Roar,” Moore said.
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