Valiant Valeri steps up
Holding midfielder Carl Valeri came into this FIFA World Cup as “Mini-Vinnie”, the seemingly perpetual understudy to concrete anchor Vince Grella.
He may leave it as “Valeridona”, a rare success story of the Socceroos’ patchy campaign who met coach Pim Verbeek’s challenge to - literally – step up.
Against Ghana, Valeri’s jinking run from midfield, beating several African players along the way, won Australia its breakthrough free kick that led to Brett Holman’s opening goal.
With Grella out of form and then injured during this World Cup, 26-year-old Valeri has made the most of his opportunity and likely sealed his starting berth for the foreseeable future.
“This is a dream,” Valeri said.
“The last six months have been interesting for me (at club level) but I got to this World Cup and said to my old man, ‘Dad, I really want to play’.
“I worked my bum off to get into the starting 11 and Pim gave me that chance. It wasn’t a great result in the first game, but he picked me again and that was great.”
Originally from Canberra and the son of local football identity Walter, Valeri has spent his professional career in Italy.
After being signed by Inter Milan as a teenager he joined Serie B side Grosseto in 2005 but now has his “economic rights” split between Grosseto and last season’s Serie A aspirants Sassuolo.
He played for Sassuolo for the second half of last season as the club chased promotion to Italy’s top flight.
Valeri said the team’s performance against Ghana reflected the “real” Australia and needed to be repeated against Serbia in Nelspruit on Thursday (AEST).
“I thought we deserved more against Ghana but we just have to hope that results go our way on Wednesday,” he said.
“It was the real Australia against Ghana and losing 4-0 to Germany meant that we had to take a step up.
“Against Ghana we had to remain calm but then, when the time came, take some risks.
”We did that well and we did have our chances but we unfortunately didn’t take them. But that’s football. We need the same again against Serbia.
“We have had the same game plan for two and half a years. It has worked quite well and got us through to the World Cup, not fairly easily, but fairly early. Things went wrong in the first game against Germany but that can happen.”
Valeri will discover on June 25 what plans Grosetto and Sassuolo have in store for him.
After his performances for Australia in South Africa, a long-awaited move to Serie A is a possibility.
“I haven’t even thought about that,” Valeri said.
“I’m just thinking about Serbia. I think we can make the step up but it is horrible to always depend on other people’s results. That’s the position we are in, and all we can do is win.”
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/news/1010017/Valiant-Valeri-steps-up