- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer was positively ecstatic upon the news of a one-year deal with Chelsea that will see him remain in the EPL for another season, labelling his new club as “one of the biggest and best clubs in the world”.
“It’s an honor to sign for Chelsea,” Schwarzer said via the Blues’ official website, saying that he “didn’t take much convincing to come here.”
Having chalked up over 15 years of experience in England at Bradford City, Middlesborough and Fulham, Schwarzer is certainly no rookie when it comes to the rigors of Premier League football.
At 40 years of age, he’s also certainly not short of wisdom and understanding for the players, tactics and landscape of the English competition – which will no doubt be a huge advantage for Chelsea.
Schwarzer is unlikely to find himself atop the pecking order at Stamford Bridge in his one year with the club, with regular goalkeeper Petr Cech locked in as the number one goalkeeper.
Cech is without doubt one of the strongest goalkeepers in world football and a back-to-back European champion given Chelsea’s success in both the Champions League and Europa League – meaning that he is incredibly unlikely to find himself without a job or starting opportunities any time in the near future.
On the surface, the move then might have seemed like a poor choice for Schwarzer given his need to keep himself in good form ahead of the 2014 World Cup.
And it’s easy to see why that makes sense.
However, the reality is that Schwarzer’s move isn’t going to hinder his form and leave Australia in a less-than-prepared position by the time the 2014 World Cup begins.
He’ll still see plenty of minutes on the field, still learn plenty from his time in West London, and will be a much more confident goalkeeper because of it – which can only mean good things for the Socceroos.
Schwarzer is an experienced veteran of the Premier League who will not be enamoured by the fact he’s working for world-class manager Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.
He won’t be daunted or put off by the fact that he is considered secondary to Cech (especially not given just how good Cech is), and he’s simply too much of a professional not to take anything away from his time with the Blues.
Be it off the field in training and preparation or on the field with his form; Schwarzer will gain much more from being at Chelsea as Cech’s back-up than he could ever have hoped for playing as the number one goalkeeper in a middle-of-the-road team in some random corner of the world.
You could nearly say that he’ll gain more in 12 months at Chelsea (despite being the number two) than he did in six years at Fulham as their first-choice goalkeeper.
And it’s not like playing time is really going to be that much of an issue.
Anyone worried about his lack of playing time needs only to glimpse at the early season schedule that Chelsea have to see that he’ll still chalk up plenty of minutes on the field.
Be it in the Carling Cup, League Cup, FA Cup, Premier League, Champions League or Super Cup, Cech will need to be rested and when that happens, expect the Australian international have his gloves ready.
Throw in the countless hours on the training field where he’ll be working alongside some of the best players and managerial staff in the world, and it’s clear that Schwarzer will be fine.
Again, that can only mean big things for the Socceroos.
From the moment that Australia qualified for just their second World Cup in 2005, Schwarzer has been fundamental to the identity of the Socceroos.
He was the forgotten hero in the penalty victory over Uruguay. He was the fallen hero as Australia was saw their World Cup dream robbed from their eyes by Italy.
And despite eight years passing since that infamous match, Schwarzer’s importance and significance to the Socceroos’ cause has not changed in the slightest – something he’ll look to prove once more when he sets foot in Brazil.
Which, given the 12 months he’ll have just had, is seemingly a pretty safe bet.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.