Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou is not expecting miracles from mercurial midfielder Tom Rogic, who appears finally over his injury troubles and poised for his first national team cap in over a year.
Rogic has been rewarded for a strong start to the Scottish Premier League season with Celtic with selection in Postecoglou’s 23-man squad for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh and Tajikistan.
The 22-year-old was once held up as Australia’s pre-eminent wunderkind, but chronic groin issues over the last two seasons cruelled his progress and forced him to miss the World Cup in Brazil and the Asian Cup earlier this year.
Postecoglou is merely thankful he is able to even select Rogic at all.
“Pretty much since I’ve taken over he’s battled with injuries and hasn’t been able to get himself right,” Postecoglou said.
“I’m really pleased for him more than anything else that he seems to have his body right.
“He’s played a couple of games now, he’s in contention, he’s had a full pre-season.”
But Postecoglou warned Rogic won’t be back at his mesmerising best for a while yet.
“He’s still nowhere near where he wants to be and hopefully 12 months of solid football this season with Celtic will help him get there,” he said.
“There’s no real massive expectations from us about him playing a massive role.
“It’s just about bringing him into the environment again because he hasn’t been in this environment too much.”
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