English Championship players David Carney and Mile Sterjovski need to start playing regular football again or surrender their position in the national team, Socceroos boss Pim Verbeek has warned.
Carney and Sterjovski are struggling to even make the bench at their respective sides Sheffield United and Derby County, a situation Verbeek frowns upon.
“A little (worried) is an understatement,” Verbeek said today after naming both players in a provisional 35-man squad for the World Cup qualifier against Qatar in Brisbane on October 15.
“Players like (Jason) Culina, they play in a big club and they pick up their minutes, same with (Brett) Holman, same with (Richard) Garcia — I’m not so worried about them,” he said.
“I’m more worried about Sterjovski and David Carney, because they are not even in the final squad — normally not even on the bench. They don’t play any game.
“They are on the (Socceroos squad) list but I have to seriously think about what I am going to do with them in the future because if it keeps going on like this then I will probably have to make, for them, very unpopular decisions.”
Verbeek said he had persisted with the duo on this occasion because “so far they have never let us down” and that it was now up to the players to make some decisions on their club careers.
“It’s not up to me to give advice. That’s why they have agents. They are not 15, 16, 17-year-olds,” he said.
“If the manager shows that at this moment he doesn’t like your qualities then you have to make up your mind … do they want to lose their position in the Socceroos or try to find another club?”
Verbeek omitted promising defender Mark Milligan from the squad because he was out-of-contract and not playing regular football, recently trialling with clubs such as Germany’s Werder Bremen.
“We all hope he will find a club very soon but I cannot select a player who is just doing some training, some tests, in Europe,” said Verbeek.
“Mark understands his situation and hopefully he will find a club soon because he is one of the players with talent and a very good age for the future.”
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