Wistful Wilkshire On Watch Detail

Illawarra Mercury

Saturday June 21, 2008

By JOEL RITCHIE

SOCCEROO Luke Wilkshire is disappointed to be missing tomorrow's World Cup qualifier against China, but had been relishing a break.

The Mercury caught up with the Albion Park junior this week to talk about tomorrow's game, the gruelling road through Asia to the World Cup, the recent trip to the Middle East and life under new coach Pim Verbeek.

Wilkshire is staying at his parents' Shellharbour home prior to a rare holiday.

He was released from the Socceroos squad after picking up a suspension-inducing yellow card in last week's 3-1 win over Qatar.

The 27-year-old will still be at ANZ Stadium for tomorrow's match, but he will be watching the game with his children Paige, 5, and Toby, 4.

The 2006 World Cup squad member won't report back to his Dutch club, FC Twente, for pre-season training until mid-July.

Wilkshire is disappointed to be missing the match, as it is probably as close as he'll get to representing Australia in his home town.

"It's always great to play for Australia, especially in Sydney because my family always come up and watch," he said.

"It's a bit disappointing that I won't be playing."

With Mile Sterjovski on home duties, Scott Chipperfield being treated for a foot injury and Wilkshire suspended, the Illawarra will be represented on Sunday by Bulli junior Ruben Zadkovich, who has been called up from an Australian under 23s camp for his first cap.

THE CHINA MATCH

Although Australia has already qualified for the next stage and China has been eliminated, Wilkshire predicted an entertaining affair.

"We want to go into the next phase on a high, putting on a great performance is important," he said.

"There are going to be some guys playing who are going to be keen to impress.

"China have nothing to lose, neither do we, so I think it will be an open game. I think they'll take the game to us and we'll take it to them as well.

"It's a credit to the whole team that we are through the group with a game to spare. We didn't want to come home needing a win to progress, and that's what we have avoided."

NEXT STAGE

Wilkshire predicted Asian Champions Iraq would join the Socceroos in the next stage of qualifying, which starts in September.

The Iraqis take on Qatar in a winner-takes-all affair in Dubai hours after Australia's match with China.

"When it comes to the second stage, we want everyone to be fit and ready to go, it's going to be tough," Wilkshire said.

Ten teams will enter the draw for the final round of qualifying.

The Socceroos were without Mark Viduka, Lucas Neill and Tim Cahill for most of the first Asian qualifying stage, along with Lake Heights junior Mile Sterjovski and Josh Kennedy.

HIS FORM

Wilkshire was happy with his form during the recent qualifiers, especially after being swapped with Brett Emerton for the Qatar game.

"Emmo and I can both play forward as midfielders or at right back ... it's down to Pim's selection," he said.

"When I play with Emmo (Emerton), we can cover each other. I certainly felt comfortable with playing at right back against Qatar."

SOCCEROOS

Wilkshire said the team's worst performance during their "Super June" World Cup qualifiers came in the 1-0 win over Iraq in Brisbane at the start of the month.

"The second game against Iraq (a 1-0 loss in Dubai), things didn't really happen for us and we conceded a freak goal," Wilkshire said.

"Against Qatar we took our foot off a little bit after playing really well.

"In Dubai we lost 1-0, but we played better than when we won 1-0 in Brisbane."

THE MIDDLE EAST

Wilkshire returned from the Socceroos' Middle East sojourn without any bumps or bruises, although he admitted he "lost a couple of kilos" in the desert heat.

"I'm still a little bit drained from travelling and playing," he said.

"Most of us play in Europe in the cold and we went to the other end of the scale. You would get hot just stepping out of the hotel.

"The only time I remember something similar was when we played in Kuwait during the Asian Cup qualifiers - our preparation this time was a lot better."

ROAD TO SOUTH AFRICA

The 25-cap Socceroos veteran prefers the gruelling road through the Asian Confederation to the lottery of facing a South American side once every four years for a World Cup spot.

"We knew it would be a lot of games and travel, and a big workload," he said.

"This seems a fairer way to qualify for the World Cup, although it is harder. The other way basically came down to two matches against a South American team."

THE BOSS

Wilkshire said criticism of coach Pim Verbeek's tactics after the 1-0 loss to Iraq was "unjustified".

"For the press to come after him after one loss is a bit much," Wilkshire said.

"Bad results will happen from time-to-time; we bounced back well."

"The atmosphere around the team is very relaxed and everybody is enjoying themselves."

Wilkshire can view Verbeek's tactics from a totally different perspective tomorrow.

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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