What are your expectations for Australia ahead of the World Cup? How far can we go?
The Australian public will be expecting us to do better than we did last time. That is acceptable and reasonable seeing as we've got the experience after doing in 2006. Three quarters of this team have been to a World Cup before, so we should do better, but we have been drawn up against a very, very good group. I have high expectations for the Socceroos and believe we can go one better than last time.

We're looking at a similar line-up this time round as in 2006. Do you consider that a positive or would you have expected more youngster to emerge?
It is a positive because you always want to have the same team going out so we can gel as a team. That has helped us improve our game. I'm not too concerned more young players have not come through, their time will come. They need to gain more experience playing in Europe. You will see a number of the Socceroos, especially the older ones, who will not be playing after the World Cup and then you will see an influx of the next generation coming through for the Socceroos.

How do you think conditions in South Africa will suit Australia?
Not a problem. The boys in Europe will be used to the cold weather. There has always been that concern of safety away from the pitch in South Africa, but I'm sure we'll be well looked after.

No European team has ever won the World Cup outside of Europe. Do you think that'll change in South Africa?
It is hard to say, but there is always a first for everything. It could be anyone, like one of the African teams maybe. The South Americas will be strong as usual and the European teams will be amongst the favourites too.

Talk us through our World Cup group rivals.
Germany are a very competitive side who play an aggressive style of football. But they have skillful players this time too. We've played Ghana a couple of times now and we've always done pretty well against them. But with the World Cup being in Africa it is going to give them some real inspiration. At the African Nations Cup they made the final with their young players, not their established stars. I don't know as much about Serbia, but I did play with a couple of Serbian players in the Netherlands and they were quality players.

England could await in the knock-out stages, what would that mean to take them on?
We've beaten them before! [laughs] There is a big rivalry between the Aussies and the Poms. If it did come to that [playing England], which I don't really want to think about at the moment, it will be a massive game. Us Aussies watch the English Premier League every week so it will be great to take these players on. We will have an advantage in the sense that we have so many players that have Premier League experience.

Are you conscience of the extra pressure on the team this time round?
Definitely. There is so much more expectation now. Not only from ourselves, but from everyone in Australia after what we did last time. The players want to do better and we believe we should do better. We have the experience and we're playing far better and more disciplined football.

The pressure - is it a sign of the team improving or just frustrating?
If you look four or five years back and we'd drawn against a Japan or just lost against a Holland, people would have said, ‘That's not too bad, that's a pretty good result for Australia'. But not today as we're expected to beat these countries. As players you want to do better and achieve more things.

How vital is your role, that of the holding midfielder, to Pim's system working? How would you define your playing role within the Socceroos side?
That's a hard question. As a holding midfielder you're expected to be involved all the time - picking ball up from defence, starting up play and dictating the tempo of the game. All that is a huge responsibility to have alongside another holding midfielder, usually Vinnie Grella. We're the ones who ultimately decide the pace of
the game.

Having played a much more attacking role at the Gold Coast in the past season, can we expect to see you getting forward more for the Socceroos now?
That's not up to me, that's up to Mr. Verbeek. Pim knows exactly how he wants his Socceroos team to play and we have to adapt to how he wants to play. It is no good me playing one way when he wants me to play another. I'm aware I have to adapt from that more attacking role at Gold Coast in the A-League to the holding role with the Socceroos at the World Cup.

How about working under Pim, compared with Guus before. How are those two similar and different to work with?
Pim worked under Guus at South Korea and they did a fantastic job together there. Pim had clearly learned a lot from Guus. Pim came in and continued the good work of Guus. The players respect Pim, he just lays out what he needs from the team simply and the players respond. Pim oozes confidence and that shows
in the players.

This article appeared in the July issue of FourFourTwo magazine. To buy back copies of this issue call 03-8317-8121 with a credit card to hand.