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Sydney FC striker John Aloisi hasn’t given up hope of earning a Socceroos recall for the 2010 World Cup after getting his A-League season off to a promising start.
The marquee man scored twice in Sydney’s 3-2 win over newcomers North Queensland in Townsville on Saturday, sparking hopes he could bounce back to his best this season after a dismal first year with the club.
Aloisi’s brace matched his entire goal output for last season, in which he was dogged by injuries and even booed by his own home fans at times.
With a full pre-season under his belt this campaign, the 33-year-old said he was now feeling fitter than he had for years and was confident of a strong season.
While he is determined to focus on performing for Sydney each week, Aloisi knows that a strong season could put him in the reckoning for a call-up to his second successive World Cup.
“I’m just really concentrating on Sydney FC at the moment, and trying to do as well as I can for them but at the end who knows what can happen if you have a good year,” said Aloisi, who scored in Australia’s famous 3-1 win over Japan at the 2006 World Cup.
“I think everyone’s in the same boat playing in the A-League, I think quite a few players think they’ve got a chance going to the World Cup.
“Especially players that have come back now, like Jason Culina will be involved, Mile Sterjovski, Craig Moore, so I think a few more players will probably be involved from the A-League.
“At the moment, I just want to do well for Sydney FC, and if I have a good year, you never know.”
With a long season ahead of him, Aloisi was not prepared to make any bold declarations about possible goal hauls for the season.
And he denied proving his critics from last season wrong would be a motivating factor.
“I’m not too worried about proving anything to people,” Aloisi said.
“I just want to do my best and make sure I have a good year and the team has a great year.
“It was nice to get off the mark and score so early in the game but the most important thing was that the goals I scored helped the team win.
“It would be nice to get on the scoresheet as often as possible but I haven’t said that I’m going to be top goalscorer or say how many goals I’m going to score.
“It’s just game by game and make sure the team wins each game we play in.”
Aloisi said Sydney were still capable of “a lot” of improvement.
They host Adelaide United on Sunday.
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