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Whenever critics start to dissect the Socceroos squad, they always point to the age factor. Yet the oldest player in the team, and the most capped, largely escapes censure.
Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has backed up his position with deeds and looked as good as ever in Australia’s last three World Cup qualifiers.
Certainly, the age argument does not apply in the same way for goalkeepers. Dino Zoff captained Italy to a World Cup win at 40 years of age.
Schwarzer will be older than Zoff was in 1982 by the time the 2014 World Cup kicks off. Whether he goes as Australia’s number one has now been put into question by his move to Chelsea.
Schwarzer has been the number one keeper at his past two EPL clubs (Middlesbrough and Fulham) for the best part of a decade.
He has stayed relatively injury-free in that time and his careful choice of clubs seemed to reflect a desire to always be part of the action, rather than a highly-paid bench-warmer (see: Kalac, Z)
It’s fanciful to think he will be the number one keeper at Chelsea while ever Petr Cech stays healthy. So what is the thinking behind Schwarzer’s big summer move?
The first one was probably unrelated to the wider issue of first team football and was of convenience. Chelsea and Fulham are neighbours and Schwarzer does not have to uproot his family in pursuit of another EPL contract when one is available just across the Thames.
It’s no small club either: the return of Jose Mourinho, a Champions League berth and a desire to claw back the initiative from the Manchester giants will focus plenty of attention on the Blues in 2013-14.
How much of that attention Schwarzer will garner is the worry for Australian fans. No doubt, Chelsea will play a lot of games in the coming season in the league, Europe and two domestic cup competitions. But will sporadic action in the League and FA Cups be enough to satisfy Schwarzer, not to mention National Team coach Holger Osieck?
Perhaps that’s overly pessimistic and Schwarzer has set his mind to unseating Cech and becoming the Chelsea number one.
I’d love to think he could do it; he is an ornament to the game and one of the best players – let alone the best keeper – to have ever stood and sung Advance Australia Fair in the team line up before an international.
Or maybe there’s another train of thought in Schwarzer’s move. Goalkeeping takes a heavier toll on the body than most people appreciate.
Training drills have keepers hitting the ground hundreds of times a session and the wear and tear on shoulders, elbows, hips and neck is accumulative and painful. It’s possible Schwarzer’s Chelsea move is a compromise in self-preservation versus first-team football at one of the biggest clubs in Europe, a careful balancing act from a player who has always been meticulous about his preparation and fitness. A fifty-plus game season might not be the ideal entrée for the World Cup in Schwarzer’s long-term thinking.
But does the potential of Mark Schwarzer playing second fiddle open up an opportunity for claimants to his mantle as Australia’s number one?
The two goalkeepers who immediately spring to mind are Eugene Galekovic and Adam Federici, from opposite sides of the world. Galekovic was outstanding at the East Asian Cup but he shone in an experimental team, was forced into a string of spectacular shot-stopping performances which can sometimes flatter to deceive.
Of course, Galekovic’s form has extended back to the last A-League season as well, and it seems that being a keeper in the A-League does not harm a player’s chances of National Team selection as much as an outfield player.
Adam Federici endured a rollercoaster first season in the EPL, finishing it injured and ultimately relegated. His first month of EPL football was something of a nightmare but he reclaimed his number one position at the Royals after being dropped due to poor form in those early rounds.
He maintained his form until an ankle injury forced him to miss the last weeks of Reading’s ultimately unsuccessful fight to keep their Premier League place.
He has stuck with the side but did not start in Reading’s opening game against Ipswich Town – whether due to injury or non-selection I am not sure. I would expect him to be first-choice keeper at Reading before the season is too far in.
If that doesn’t happen, he will need to move elsewhere to try and wrest the top spot from Schwarzer for the World Cup, no matter how few games the latter plays for Chelsea.
There are other potential suitors, among them Mitch Langerak and Mat Ryan, both young guys now at European clubs but not yet established as first team regulars. Michael Theo and Ante Covic are outstanding keepers in the A-League but would appear to be down the pecking order when it comes to a World Cup squad.
Perhaps Mark Schwarzer has assessed his fellow keepers and decided that a big move to Chelsea is worth the gamble, not due to arrogance but more due to self-preservation. And perhaps that’s the way Holger Osieck prefers it.
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