We ran a piece yesterday on Mark Viduka, where he talked about the game on Sunday. Today he has talked further on his International career to the Newcastle Journal and stresses that he has still to make a decision on whether he’ll continue to play for Australia.
Mark Viduka – still to make a decision on International career
Mark talked today to the Newcastle Journal about continuing to play for Australia:
“I haven’t made a decision about Australia yet,†“I’m going to have a meeting with the new manager soon and we’ll discuss it. I’ve spoken to him on the phone and they want me to carry on playing international football.â€
“We’ll have a good chat in the New Year and we’ll see what happens from there. There has been talk of coming to a compromise where I won’t be asked to play in all the World Cup qualifiers. It’s pretty hectic, there are midweek games where I’d have to fly to Australia or Iraq and that takes it out of you.â€
“I think I’ll have to wait until I’ve spoken to him and to see exactly what would be expected of me. It’s an extremely tough decision to make. I love playing for Australia, but I also want to give my best to Newcastle.â€
Viduka’s very professional performance against Derby County on Sunday will not have gone unnoticed by Big Sam but Allardyce will also feel he has not seen the Aussie’s best often enough.
Viduka had spent the previous four matches as a substitute before returning to the starting line-up and salvaging a point for Newcastle against the Rams, and that’s all the game was for Newcastle, a salvage operation after being behind twice.
Mark thinks the Asia Cup has been partly to blame for his lack of consistency, an admission which Newcastle’s hierarchy will hope is a sign he will turn down the chance to prolong his international career. We certainly hope so.
Viduka added:
“I think the Asia Cup left me feeling jaded. It took it out of me mentally more than physically and that held me back at the start of the season, I think. I’m starting to get back into it and these two goals will certainly help.â€
“ Do I hate being a substitute? Hate is a strong word, but nobody likes being on the bench. I don’t like not being involved, but all I can do is my best. I’ve been around long enough for people to know what I can and can’t do, I don’t think I have anything to prove.â€
“As a striker I’m delighted on a personal level to score two goals, especially to come back into the side after a spell on the bench, but the shine has been taken off by the fact we’ve not won the game. The edge has definitely been taken off the celebrations because we’ve not got all three points.â€
“We’ve scored two goals against Derby but we’re probably not making the most out of the chances we are creating at the moment. That’s something we need to address, but we’ve also got a problem conceding goals and we’ve had it all season. I don’t know what we do to remedy that. You’re asking the wrong person, I’ve not even got my coaching license yet.â€
We’ve said before that we hope Mark will call time on his International career. While that may be selfish and from a Newcastle United perspective it’s nevertheless hard to do all the traveling once you turn 30. And Mark has already admitted the Asia Cup took a lot out of him. We’re sure Sam would love to have Mark curtail his international appearances and concentrate fully on his club team career.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
1 comment so far
goalcentre.com
Dec 26, 2007 at 11:04 AM
Comment #1Viduka should just concentrate on club soccer like what Paul Scholes is doing. He is very injury prone and with Club and country, it will surely take toll on him.