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Who should lead the Socceroos?

Crystal Palace's 5-4 loss to Swansea was a disaster for Palace fans.
Roar Guru
25th February, 2014
32

One of the interesting topics likely to come out of today’s Socceroo squad announcement for their friendly against Ecuador is who will be the side’s captain.

With Lucas Neill unlikely to be selected, candidates for the captains arm band will be lining up for Ange Postecoglou.

Realistically, Postecoglou has five options: Tim Cahill, Rhys Williams, Marco Bresciano, Mark Milligan and Mile Jedinak.

Cahill has only ever been a fill-in captain at former club Everton and a representative captain for the Socceroos in the rare absence of Neill and Mark Schwarzer.

While he is one of the most experienced Socceroos and one of the stars of the side, his lack of actual captain’s pedigree negates those pros.

Williams could be a brilliant move as someone who could captain the Socceroos for the next five or more year.

He is the club captain of Championship side Middlesbrough, so he is a notable leader. But he is currently injured, which disappointingly rules him out.

Bresciano is in a similar situation as Tim Cahill – while he has got an abundance of playing experience at some big clubs, he simply does not have captaincy experience, so that rules him out.

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That leaves Milligan and Jedinak. The former is the club captain of Melbourne Victory and the latter is the captain of Crystal Palace.

Both are at an ideal age (28 and 29 respectively) but there is only one who should really be given the armband – the Crystal Palace midfielder who has had a stunning rise.

From the Illawarra Premier League to the English Premier League, Mile has developed into the ideal captain who makes his opinions heard and leads through his actions.

Jedinak has over 100 appearances for Crystal Palace and was given the captain armband last season leading the side to the playoffs – a game Palace won with a 90th minute strike from Jedinak.

He was awarded the club’s player of the season, with Crystal Palace supporters singing their praises for their messy-haired Australian.

In the current campaign, Jedinak has played a pivotal role for the Eagles, screening the back four with extreme diligence which has helped them fight off relegation to this point.

Jedinak will be the first player picked for Brazil and the first player Ange writes on the team sheet. He is the sort of blood and guts player that should be leading out our boys over the coming years.

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Ange may disagree with me and opt for Milligan or Cahill or someone else entirely.

He could even decide to go with the current captain Lucas Neill, who may still earn his place in the squad in Brazil since signing on with Championship club Watford.

I do feel if Neill was to play, it would have to be as captain.

Do you think Mile will get Ange’s backing or will Neill earn his place and the armband? Or could someone else be lined up for the hardest role in Australian football?

Follow Dylan on Twitter @dylaneloi

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