Archie Thompson will be forced to face the age old club versus country debate ahead of the opening game of the A-League season with Australia scheduled to play an international friendly against France a day before Victory’s first game of the 2013/14 campaign at home to cross-town rivals Melbourne Heart.
With the derby scheduled at Etihad Stadium (October 12, 7.30pm AEDT), a crowd upwards of 50,000 should be expected, as former Victory player Harry Kewell returns in a red and white jersey.
Fellow team mate Mark Milligan is also a chance to join Thompson in Paris for the friendly on October 11th (October 12, 6.00am AEDT), with the duo regularly featuring in Holger Osieck’s squad over the past years.
Milligan and Thompson both missed Victory’s glamour friendly against English giants Liverpool at the MCG in front of a 95,000 plus crowd due to their Socceroos commitments at the East Asian Cup and the forward made it clear that he was not looking forward to getting caught up in another club versus country debate.
“I got put on the spot a couple weeks ago,” Thompson said on Tuesday morning after training.
“Would you rather be playing Korea or would you rather be playing Liverpool?
“I tell you it wasn’t fun over there chasing the Koreans and the Japanese, and it looked fantastic over here [in Melbourne].”
“It’s a tough one. I’d obviously love to play and I’d love to be selected or be in contention [for the Socceroos]. We’ll see what happens but obviously I’d love to play against Heart.”
Thompson was open to suggestions that Osieck could restrict his friendly squad to overseas based players but admitted that he was looking to take every opportunity and make a case for selection ahead of the World Cup in Brazil next year.
“I want to be part of every Socceroos game, because it’s a World Cup year,” he said.
“You always got to put your hand up as available whether it be first game of the season, the big Melbourne Heart Derby. You’re going to sometimes miss big games like these, but like I said it’s the World Cup, you want to be a part of everything.”
Thompson has had a busy schedule over recent months attending numerous training camps and international trips with the Socceroos but the veteran is content with his work rate during off season.
“It’s been pretty hectic the last two-three months, but I wouldn’t change it. If it can be like it has been for the next three months, for the next couple years I’ll do it. I’ve had so many highs these last couple of months,” he said.
With the A-League season commencing in just over a months’ time, Thompson also admitted his delight with the progress many of Victory’s young players were making and seemed confident that the title was very much within reach, despite the departure of key players including Billy Celeski, Marco Rojas and Marcos Flores.
“It’s exciting… Everyone is itching to get out there, each season seems to be improving and this one again I think will be another special one,” he said.
“Everyone is a good spot and everyone is progressing nicely. Kosta [Barbarouses] has come in, a couple young guys are starting to put their hands up and if you look at the friendly against Liverpool, the young players there were fantastic, I think we’ve got plenty of depth and good young talent.”
With the competition of players emerging Thompson noted that it was “tough for positions, we got Kosta, Connor [Pain], [Andrew] Nabbout, and we got Gui [Finkler] coming back [from injury] and Jesse Makarounas.”
“I’m happy to play any role, I’ve played out wide and had a lot of success out there and slotted into a middle role and had a big impact there,” he said.
