Melbourne Victory defender Rody Vargas was hoping rather than expecting a call-up to the Socceroos squad for next week’s AFC Asian Cup 2011 qualifier against Indonesia in Jakarta.
Melbourne Victory defender Rody Vargas was hoping rather than expecting a call-up to the Socceroos squad for next week’s AFC Asian Cup 2011 qualifier against Indonesia in Jakarta.
But having been named in the 21-man squad along with Victory team-mates Danny Allsopp, Billy Celeski, Tom Pondeljak, Michael Theoklitos and Archie Thompson, the prospect of a senior international debut is suddenly very real.
Vargas tried to stay positive about his selection chances despite compelling claims from a stack of in-form defenders throughout the A-League.
“When it comes to Australian sides, you never ‘expect’,” Vargas said.
“I guess ‘hope’ is the word and a few boys were hoping – there’s a few at our club who-ve had really good years, very consistent.”
Vargas said his recent form, by his own high standards, had been a little ‘indifferent’ of late, but that it helped to be playing in a successful side.
“You have your ups and downs, but I tend to concentrate more on the team and when the team is doing well, more often than not you have a few players leading the way,” he said.
National head coach Pim Verbeek said Vargas’ selection was well-deserved and he dismissed reports the 30-year-old had declared himself unavailable for national selection late last year after being overlooked for the World Cup qualifiers against Qatar.
“I never heard about that,” Verbeek said.
“I never spoke about it, but he knows my telephone number and he has time enough to call.”
“If he’s not interested then I didn’t hear that, but I think that Rody is one of those players who is having a decent performance every game and if he ever wants to be a national team player then this is his chance.”
“It’s totally up to him.”
Vargas said he was delighted by the selection of Allsopp and Thompson among the four strikers in the squad – Central Coast’s Dylan McAllister and Matt Simon are the others – and believes they can be as potent and effective for their country as they are for their club.
“I would love to see Danny and Archie play together,” Vargas said.
“Archie has been in the Aussie team for as long as I can remember and I would love to see him get a start.”
“I think Danny’s had a terrific year, he’s scoring goals and he thoroughly deserves the chance if he gets one.”
