History beckons for Garcia
09/06/2010 7:52 PM
Bren O'Brien in Johannesburg
Sportal

Two months ago, Richard Garcia's bid to play in the World Cup looked like history, now history awaits Garcia at the World Cup.

No Western Australian-born player has represented the Socceroos at a World Cup and Garcia will hopefully get his chance to change that situation for Australia's largest state in the next fortnight.

With Rhys Williams and Shane Lowry missing out on the final squad of 23 and Brad Jones forced home through family illness, Garcia is the only Perth-born player in the squad. (Nikita Rukavytsya grew up in Perth, but was born in Ukraine)

It would be a peculiar honour to claim for the 28-year-old midfielder/striker, but it's one he thinks would be a memorable achievement.

"Definitely. It would be a big honour for me. First of all to play in the World Cup, from a personal matter, then to be the first Western Australian would be even better, hopefully I get that chance," he said.

Garcia's prospect of making the tournament looked shot two months ago when he injured his knee playing for Hull City in the English Premier League. But intensive rehabilitation and a determination to have his shot at history have served Garcia well.

"All good, touch wood. Hopefully it keeps going that way," he said when asked about the knee.

But his prospects of playing in the opening game against Germany rely as much on the fitness of others, namely Brett Emerton, as his own.

Emerton is making strong progress from a calf injury and that may mean that Garcia, who has started in the two warm-up games against Denmark and USA, misses out.

But Garcia hasn't let the selection battle enter his head as a he readies himself for the most important few weeks of his career.

"I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing, I know my strengths, so I just have to work at my strengths and work at the little weaknesses that I have, need to keep pushing on and try and push for that spot. As much as there's competition within the team, you want the whole squad to do well and you want the team to do well," he said.

And he sees his versatility as a crucial virtue in his prospects of getting some game time during this World Cup, saying that it is not about a straight battle between himself and Emerton.

"I've played across the midfield and I've played up front in the Premiership, pretty much all my career. I don't care where I play, as long as I'm playing. I'll give it a go, and the approach I take with every position," he said.


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