AUSTRALIA continued their warm up for the World Cup under their new coach Bert Van Marwijk by registering their first win in three games with a 4-0 victory over the Czech Republic in Austria.
Van Marwijk has had very little time to work with the players since he took over in January but he already knows the value of Tom Rogic to The Socceroos.
The team struggled to break down an organised Czechia side and it wasn’t until Rogic asserted his influence on the game that they made the break through.
Van Marwijk said of that opening spell: ““In the first 20 minutes we couldn’t find our free man – Rogic was free all the time but we didn’t have the right solution,”
Celtic’s Wizard Of Oz produced some excellent footwork to start the move that ended up with Mat Leckie scoring.
Mat Leckie makes it 1-0 with his 8th @socceroos goal!
???? @FOXFOOTBALL 501 and @tensporttv pic.twitter.com/McOc2HCp8f
— Caltex Socceroos (@Socceroos) June 1, 2018
Rogic was replaced with ex-Celt Jackson Irvine in the 66th minute. Van Marwijk will cut four players from his squad after todays game. What is certain though is Tom Rogic will start against France in the Kazan Arena on 16 June.
Fox Sports Australia are also aware of the important of Rogic. Commentator Andy Harper said: When Tom Rogic plays, you have to find a way to get him involved or else he’s pointless,Crucially, he was the man to split them apart for this goal … Australia, to put pressure on opposing defence, need Rogic in full swing.”
The Aussies will also play Denmark and Peru in what is one of the more attractive groups in the tournament.
Rogic signed a new 5 year deal to stay at Celtic for 10IAR shortly before the season ended and as revealed by The Celtic Star…
——
THE CELTIC STAR PODCAST which recently won the Podcast of the Year at the Football Blogging Awards in London, has a special edition out this week, which features a brilliant interview with Celtic cult hero Rudi Vata. It’s another great listen…
And to the left of Rudi in that photograph is Andy Payton. We had an interview with Andy on The Celtic Star a few days ago…
Have you got your Beautiful Sunday t-shirt for your summer holidays yet? They are selling very fast…
And here is the third part of the treble with JPT…
