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The thing that stands out about Mark Schwarzer’s career, with his international career now over, is that he was able to get better with age, through his sheer hard work.
Never the most talented keeper around, he was always the hardest working. Indeed, it was through his professionalism and hard work that he was able to stay relevant as a keeper and very important for the Socceroos.
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While others like Mark Bosnich or Zeljko Kalac may have had the talent, it was Schwarzer who had the appetite to buckle down and keep a level head.
He played through the era where keepers had to learn to stop picking up the ball from back-passes and had to start using their feet, and managed to cover his technical deficiencies with the ball at feet by keeping his distribution simple.
Apart from his heroics in his debut tie against Canada from the penalty spot, which I touched up in my article earlier today, it his heroics in the penalty shootout win against Uruguay that sent the Socceroos to the World Cup for the first time in 32 years that will long be remember.
But there was much more.
In the 2010 World Cup campaign, it was Schwarzer’s work between the sticks, particularly away from home, that allowed the Roos to navigate the first phase of qualifying and keep Pim Verbeek in a job.
Over two qualifying campaigns, under Verbeek and Holger Osieck, Schwarzer came to his managers’ and defenders’ rescue time and time again.
In some ways, he saved many a career, yet he was also criticised by many fans for stunting the careers for some of our up and coming keepers by playing in too many friendlies.
In truth, that was never his fault, but always that of the managers, Verbeek and Osieck, who relied so heavily on him.
With a change in the drivers seat comes a new path, and while Schwarzer will not be going to Brazil, he will forever be remembered as one of our greatest ever goalkeepers, Socceroos and sportsmen.
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