After completing a long, hard journey through all divisions of English football, Richard Garcia hopes to finally play his first senior match on Australian soil in Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan.
The midfielder has tasted top-level football this season with English Premier League newcomers Hull City.
He made his Socceroos debut against South Africa last August and now has three caps to his name but all his appearances have been away from home.
Garcia struggles to remember the last time he played a match in the country of his birth but says it was at least 12 years ago.
“I can’t remember, I don’t think I’ve played a (senior) game in Australia,” Garcia said on Friday.
“It would probably have been in Perth when I was 15 just before I left and that was playing state league in Perth.
“(Playing against Uzbekistan) would be fantastic, considering I haven’t played a senior game in front of family and friends, that’s the biggest thing.”
Garcia is rare among the modern breed of Australian football exports, having played in all four professional divisions of English football.
“It’s been a long hard journey, but at least it’s got it’s rewards at the minute,” Garcia said.
He admits he doubted he would ever get the chance to play for the Socceroos when he was battling in the lower tiers of English football.
“There have been stints of my career when I thought it was never going to happen,” Garcia said.
“I’ve worked really hard to get back to where I want to be.
“It was always my aim to play for Australia and to play in the Premier League.”
Garcia, 27, did enjoy a brief taste of Premier League action early in the decade with West Ham, where he played in their FA Youth Cup-winning team in 1999, which included future England international midfielders Joe Cole and Michael Carrick.
Unlike several other Australians playing top-flight European football, Garcia has encountered no resistance from his club over travelling across the globe to play for Australia.
He said Hull manager Phil Brown had actually pushed him to press for a national team berth.
“He (Brown) is always happy for the guys to go away on international duty. It’s another experience for players,” Garcia said.
“It’s something different and I think it enhances everyone’s game.”
Two other European-based Socceroos, defender Michael Beauchamp and midfielder Mile Sterjovski are also in a positive frame of mind heading into next weeks’ World Cup qualifier.
Beauchamp is pleased to be getting regular game time with Danish club Aalborg BK after getting little work with German side Nurnberg.
Hoping to fill the centre back spot vacated by Craig Moore, Beauchamp was happy to be playing again after injuring a hamstring in a Champions League game against Manchester United last year.
Midfielder Sterjovski has also enjoyed a turn for the better of late with English Championship side Derby County and said he was enjoying getting more game time under recently-appointed manager Nigel Clough.
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