Sunderland in Europe? Nonsense!

Australia's star players have always been under pressure from their clubs to discover - all of a sudden - an injury the week before an "unimportant" match for the Socceroos. FFA's move into Asia means it's not just players from big European clubs who may have their arms twisted.

Mark Viduka's switch to English Premier League club Newcastle (from Middlesbrough) appears to have brought sustained pressure for the big target man to not only miss a game here and there, but retire from international football completely.

Viduka's new club manager Sam Allardyce has made no secret of his desire for his striker to miss the upcoming Socceroo friendly matches against Argentina (in Melbourne on September 11) and China (in Sydney on October 13).

Tough decisions for Mark Viduka (Photo: Brendan Esposito)

It would be a crying shame if Viduka were to retire from international football. He has been a loyal servant to our national teams, at times defying his clubs to turn out for his country. However, at the end of the day, it's best for Australia to have players whose hearts are in it.

It's not just big name players at big name European clubs who will be burdened with a load of international fixtures. The A-League is likely to be hit hard, with Olympic qualification matches during the domestic season and World Cup qualification matches during the A-League Finals series.

Impressive performances from A-League players at the AFC Asian Cup is likely to mean that they'll be in demand when Socceroo squads are named. In fact, some of these players are likely to be picked ahead of other Australians who have gone overseas to try their luck, but have spent more time on the bench than on the pitch.

The Olyroos will play in the third (and final) stage of the AFC's Olympic qualifying tournament, with matches on August 22 (vs Iraq, 7pm local at Al Rayyan SC Stadium, Doha), September 8 (vs DPR Korea, 7pm at Energy Australia Stadium, Newcastle), September 12 (vs Lebanon, 7pm at Blue Tongue Stadium, Central Coast), October 17 (vs Lebanon, 6pm local at Beirut Municipal Stadium, Beirut), November 17 (vs Iraq, 7pm at Blue Tongue Stadium, Central Coast) and November 21 (vs DPR Korea, 3pm local time at Kim Il Sung Stadium, Pyongyang).

A quick glance at the A-League fixture list and it becomes obvious that several players will be missing from their club sides.

Sydney FC's Mark Milligan in action for the Socceroos during the Asian Cup (Photo: Sukree Sukplang/Reuters)

A-League players likely to be selected for the Olyroos at some stage:

Nathan Burns, Bruce Djite and Kristian Sarkies (all Adelaide), Danny Vukovic (Central Coast), Leigh Broxham (Melbourne), Tando Velaphi and Nikolai Topor-Stanley (both Perth), Ben Kennedy, Stuart Musialik and Mark Bridge (all Newcastle), Mark Milligan, Ruben Zadkovich, Jacob Timpano (all Sydney).

You can see that this is likely to have quite an adverse effect on some teams, and there are a few more A-League players with an outside chance of selection.

What do you think of the club versus country debate?

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Posted at: 26.08.2007
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