Troisi must show Socceroo style if World Cup dream to become reality

By Michael Lynch
Updated March 28 2014 - 6:18pm, first published 5:07pm

BY MICHAEL LYNCH

Time is running out for A-League players hoping to impress Socceroo coach Ange Postecoglou that they are worth a place in his World Cup squad of 23.

So there could be no better match for one of those locally based players,  Melbourne Victory forward James Troisi, to show what he can do than Saturday night’s clash against Sydney FC at AAMI Park.

The national coach has confirmed he has his eye on Troisi and a handful of other domestically based players as contenders for the last few places in his party for Brazil.

Postecoglou reaffirmed earlier this week at a World Cup briefing in Sydney that he already had made his mind up about the majority of the squad and that it would be strongly geared towards youth and rebuilding for the future.

He is in Asia for the next few days, having flown out of Sydney following the World Cup briefing on Wednesday. He will be looking at Australian players in the J-League and K-League before returning to make his final decisions.

Troisi’s move back to Australia to join Melbourne Victory on loan this season was for two reasons. The South Australian-born winger/midfielder wanted to play regular football, something he had not done a lot of since his move to Italy, and to press his case for World Cup selection.

While he has occasionally struggled for consistency – certainly in the early parts of the season – he has been a regular goal scorer and is one of those competing for the golden boot.

In recent weeks he has found that consistency and purpose that some were concerned he might have lacked, and he is having a strong finish to the season.

While Postecoglou won’t be there in person to watch him, his spies will certainly be monitoring Troisi’s every move in a game that has major ramifications for both clubs.

Victory is pushing hard for a top two finish while Sydney, which has endured an up-and-down season laced with controversy, is simply battling to make the finals.

Melbourne was, however, the scene of its finest performance this year in the earlier meeting of these two clubs when Frank Farina’s side stuck five without reply past the navy blues. While it was Sydney’s most propitious 90 minutes of the season, it was Victory’s nadir.

Since then their fortunes have rather swung round. Victory have been hugely competitive in both the Asian Champions League and the A-League, while Sydney have been something of a yo-yo team.

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