He’s considered one of England’s bright young prospects but Brad Smith has relinquished any chance of playing for the European heavyweights after committing to the Socceroos.
Smith on Wednesday was one of several new inclusions in coach Ange Postecoglou’s 20-man squad for next month’s friendlies against Belgium and Saudi Arabia as the Socceroos begin preparations for next year’s Asian Cup.
Born in Australia to English parents, Smith was eligible to represent either country but, after playing for England at under-17 and under-21 level, the 20-year-old defender has confirmed his allegiance to the green and gold.
Despite already having begun his rise through the English ranks, Postecoglou insists Smith didn’t need any persuading to commit to Australia and said providing another option at left-back was key to his selection.
“I wouldn’t force anyone to play for our country. I don’t think that’s how it goes.
“We’ve had a chat obviously and he’s very keen to represent his country and we want to give him an opportunity to do that.”
Smith, who debuted for English Premier League giants Liverpool last year, went on loan to Swindon Town earlier this month, joining Socceroo Massimo Luongo at the League One outfit.
Paperwork has already been lodged with FIFA to commit Smith to Australia, with Postecoglou hoping the defender will be cleared to play on September 4 against Belgium.
Smith joins A-League young guns Tomi Juric and Terry Antonis and fellow uncapped players Chris Herd, Trent Sainsbury and Bailey Wright in a squad which features eight players who were not part of the World Cup side in Brazil earlier this year.
Star forward Robbie Kruse is back in the fold after recovering from a serious knee injury but the likes of defenders Rhys Williams (knee), Curtis Good (hip-flexor), Ivan Franjic (knee), Matthew Spiranovic (ankle), playmaker Tom Rogic (groin), midfielder Matt McKay (ankle) and striker Adam Taggart (ankle) have all been sidelined.
“We’re always going to have injuries – that’s the reason we need to create some real depth … so that leading into the Asian Cup, we have some options,” Postecoglou said.
“I felt we didn’t have a lot of options going into the World Cup.
“So with that in mind, we’ve made a number of changes for the upcoming friendlies and given the opportunity to a number of players who haven’t been involved or have been on the periphery to get some game-time and put their case forward.”
Experienced campaigners Mark Bresciano and Josh Kennedy were notable omissions with Postecoglou insisting they’re still in line for later friendlies in October and November.
Postecoglou said he had been monitoring Western Sydney striker Juric, who impressed by scoring in the A-League All Stars match against Juventus and the Wanderers’ 1-0 Asian Champions League victory over Guangzhou Evergrande on Wednesday.
“With Adam Taggart still out injured, we’re thin up front. We’ve obviously got Timmy Cahill but Tomi’s one we want to have a look at,” Postecoglou said.
With the the lack of experience available, Postecoglou has recalled Carl Valeri who, with 50 appearances, is the second-most capped player in the squad after Cahill.
The Socceroos take on Belgium in Liege and Saudi Arabia in London on September 8.
Daniel Santomil
Guest
Gavin has scored 6 goals in 1,1/2 games....in the past 5 weeks,. Played 3X 90 minutes and scored one goal vs Independiente, , 2 goals vs Belgrano de Cordoba away, and a hat trick vs quilmes. The last 2 games played 90 minutes vs Velez, and Estudiantes in 1-0 win in both games.... No bad.... when you have 7 boys in the Argentinean under 20's in the squad.....Gavin is quality, anybody who saw him play here in Melbourne when he was 13 and 14 years old, still remembers him and the 98 goals he scored in 36 games here in Australia.
SlickAs
Guest
I think the article makes it pretty clear when it says "Paperwork has already been lodged with FIFA to commit Smith to Australia, with Postecoglou hoping the defender will be cleared to play on September 4 against Belgium."
Brian Orange
Roar Guru
Absolutely Fussball, but what I meant was that Smith probably won't do the FIFA paperwork to switch allegiances to Australia just yet, not just for a friendly. He'll most likely wait and see how it goes first.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Brian, as far as I know, he most definitely has to lodge the paperwork for a friendly. A player can't just play for any National Team - just because it's a friendly. The friendly "doesn't count" means that, if a player has only played friendlies for Australia at senior level - e.g. Mitch Langerak - he can still opt to change nationalities at senior level (only once). The friendlies don't tie him to the country.
Brian Orange
Roar Guru
Yes that's true Fussball, but he has to lodge the paperwork with FIFA first to commit to Australia. He doesn't need to do that for a friendly. In the end its up to the FIFA committee, but at this point in time he has made several competitive appearances for England and none for Australia.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
From my reading of the Fifa Statutes, you are only allowed to "Change Status" once. By playing for England at u17 level, Brad Smith's nationality with Fifa would be registered as: "England". But, Fifa allows a player (before a certain age) to change nationality at senior level once, if certain conditions are met. So, if Brad lodges papers with Fifa to alter his status to "Australia", he cannot change back to England. The same happened with Ersan Gülüm. He played for AUS u23 in 2007, but changed his Fifa status from "Australia" to "Turkey" in 2011 but didn't actually play for Turkey until 10 September 2013. But, he'd already changed status, so Australia couldn't call him up.
Brian Orange
Roar Guru
Surprise but welcome move from Smith who is a regular in the England U17 and U20 squads. HOWEVER, friendly match appearances DO NOT commit a player to one country, so Smith can still play for England if he wants to. He just has to apply to FIFA before he turns 21. The FIFA Player's Status Committee is responsible for making the final judgements, so no-one has any idea how this will turn out. Its a good sign though that he was born in Australia and has said he wants to play for the Socceroos.
Griffo
Roar Guru
Gavin seems to be doing OK and hope he can keep going . Has had a tough gig to get there but the academy have like what they have seen and have kept him on, and encouraged him to keep training hard until he turned 18. Not bad for a Melbourne lad. It seems River Plate don't take on many foreigners, even from South America. It's an encouraging sign if he's still there. Edit: If we qualify for the U20 World Cup in November, perhaps a future camp is not a bad time to look at someone just off the radar leading into New Zealand 2015... There are others that are dual national as well.
Brick tamland of the pants party
Guest
Great stuff,at worst he will develop into a good LB with frightening pace at best a real star.He will be doing it in the green and gold of Australia now regardless which is great.
Franko
Guest
River have played two league games and one cup this year and De Niese hasn't even made the bench. This is the guy who had to spend a year out of football because he was technically too young for an international transfer, so spend a year training with the River academy? Lets hope the lad comes on and does well at River, his first step is getting a game though.
Franko
Guest
Hopefully Davidson and Smith are the new Chipperfield and Lazaridis and we don't have to worry about Left-back for the next 10 years.
bobbym
Guest
A real coup for us. Now we need to watch Gavin De Niese who is playing first team football at River Plate in Argentina and doing very well.
Bondy
Guest
Shouldnt it read committing to Australia instead of England..