Mark Schwarzer - What’s the beef?

Football is built on rivalries, and Mark Schwarzer knows a thing or two about them.

The dust has well and truly settled on the Socceroos’ World Cup exploits but not, it seems, on a few issues that arose over in Germany.

If you read the papers, listened to the radio or watched TV last October you’d have noticed Schwarzer ruffling a few feathers. A few high-profile feathers.

Schwarzer’s book World Cup Destiny – not to mention his supporting interviews – raised a few eyebrows as he went to task detailing Guus Hiddink’s man management failings. He also, for the first time, went public about what he thought of Zeljko Kalac’s criticisms of his form leading into the tournament.

Up until then, everything seemed rosy. The interviews and footage beamed in from Germany showed a close-knit side: all laughs at training and players enjoying downtime. Indeed, the only stories to report anything distinctly negative were Kalac’s comments. But even those stories blew over and the games themselves rightfully dominated headlines.

Giving it back to Kalac in the book is understandable but having a go at the previously bullet-proof Hiddink. Where did that come from?

“The problem is when you write a book you’ve got to be honest and tell it like it is, and I think Mark has done that in the book and it comes out exceptionally well,” says Frank Farina, the man credited with bringing Schwarzer in from the Socceroo “wilderness”. “Some people might be upset about comments that were made but that’s what happens and that’s Mark Schwarzer. He’s honest. He’s not having a go at anyone – I just think he’s telling it the way it is.”

For his part, Schwarzer is adamant that the book hasn’t – and shouldn’t – create team disharmony. He maintains it’s merely a diary of his experience and, importantly is post-tournament; a reflection of Germany.

Before the heartbreak of 2001 against Uruguay

And the happy embrace Schwarzer shared with Kalac at the end of the Socceroos vs Paraguay match strongly suggested he was right. The pair – known for a rivalry stretching back to their junior days – seemed to bury whatever hatchet there may or may not have been, in that single moment.

“We have been rivals directly at club level probably from about the age of 11 years old so I suppose people do harp on that,” says Schwarzer. “I guess it’s a fact of life… when you get to the point with two goalkeepers who have made it to national level and you’ve come from the same area, that’s going to be the common denominator that people are going to look at.”

While media latched on to the passages in the book about Kalac and critics panned him for having sour grapes for including them, he insists nothing untoward has been said.

“I don’t think he’s got any reason to be upset with it,” he explains. “The only thing that I’ve said in a negative way towards him is that I felt that he was out of order making the comments about my form leading up to the World Cup at club level. I don’t think I’ve said anything in a negative way to him. I’ve even said that I felt sorry for him and the game against Croatia was a bit unfair and that it didn’t show a true reflection of him about what he’s capable of as a keeper.

“Whatever angle someone’s going to pick up on there’s always going to be someone in the press who is going to go with a question or a quote out of the book and take it totally out of the context. If he read the book, or the section that I’ve spoken about him in, then I don’t think he’d have any worries about it or any reason to be upset about it.”

Discover what makes Mark a smarter saver… find out about the NAB iSaver account at www.nab.com.auWhile both keepers had their backers, Schwarzer revealingly tells how he managed to keep his emotions in check for the duration of the tournament. Being dropped for the Croatia game was obviously a bitter pill to swallow, and it took him far closer to boiling point than anyone probably realised at the time.

“My wife complains at times that I’m too diplomatic… maybe not that I’m too diplomatic but too controlled in my emotions and I think that under those circumstances it’s the nature of my job. I think that it’s a definite strength to have that control, because that’s what I did.

“I thought I can let this take over me, or I’ve just got to make sure I can control it as much as I possibly can and obviously be very disappointed (if dropped) but, you know, deal with it and put it to one side and look at the greater picture. And the greater picture was us being in the World Cup, representing our country and hopefully getting through to the final 16.”

Tame or not, the duel of words with Kalac was just the first part of the Middlesbrough’s post-Cup controversy.

While Schwarzer is full of praise for many parts of Hiddink’s management, he was open in his assessment of the Dutchman’s man management. Schwarzer claims he and Kalac were left in no man’s land as to who would be first-choice.

“I think that if you ask Zeljko the same question, I think he would say the same thing,” reveals Schwarzer. “He would have been a lot more comfortable with knowing beforehand and with good notice [too]. I think if you look at the bigger countries that participate in the World Cup… I know with Germany there was a debate for probably 18 months as to who was going to be the number one goalkeeper. One week before the tournament they made a decision to be clear to everybody. And then Croatia, they had three goalkeepers they weren’t sure of and one week before the tournament they made a decision on who would be the number one.

“I think that it would affect you.It did affect us definitely and I think that we could have performed at an even higher level had we had been given that opportunity to know who was playing one way or another. You could concentrate on getting to your peak performance and fitness and being mentally 100 percent for the biggest tournament of your life.”

While he’s the only player to have spoken out, Schwarzer says that he was not alone with his feelings. Josip Skoko and Stan Lazaridis have both admitted to being devastated at not seeing any game time.

“I do know with the outfield players, there were a few players that felt the same way,” he says.

Hiddink himself has addressed the pair in his own book, Dit Is Mign Weerald (This Is My World). While it not dramatically stinging, it is blunt.

“I really wasn’t convinced that either of them could do a great job,” says the Dutchman. “They had strengths but there were some key weaknesses too.”

"Big hands, I know you're the one"

In the book, Hiddink also concedes he felt he’d made a mistake opting for Kalac in the Croatia game, and that he realises it could have cost our place in the knockout rounds.

Speculation still lingers that Guus may return to lead Australia to South Africa when his contract with Russia expires following Euro 2008. With Schwarzer’s commitment to remain the country’s top keeper until 2010, would he change his view if it meant playing under Guus again?

“No, not at all,” he happily assures. “As I’ve said, I respect Guus as a coach and I said I think he’s a very good coach. But there are certain aspects of his coaching… not his coaching, but his man management skills, that I didn’t agree with and I thought that it could have been dealt with differently.

“People have tried to say, ‘you’re obviously not happy with Guus’. Well that’s not entirely true. If you read what I have said and take in the context of the book and the context of the whole thing, you’ll understand, you’ll see that I rate the guy; I love the guy. It’s got nothing to do with that. It’s my observations and obviously it was directly related to the incidents that I made that assumption, and my opinion.”

Discover what makes Mark a smarter saver… find out about the NAB iSaver account at www.nab.com.auSome of our best players and exports are accused of losing their “Aussieness” after leaving our shores and living the high life in Europe for so long.

Harry Kewell is the most high-profile example, but Schwarzer is another who has lived overseas for the best part of 10 years. When we see him on TV, Schwarzer’s politeness and hybrid accent is noticeable. And when on shows like The Footy Show, it’s at odds with his more “Ostrayan” hosts. If the World Cup wasn’t proof enough that these guys aren’t as true blue as Fatty and Sterlo though, there’s plenty of other evidence.

It was day one of being back in Sydney and after some sponsorship commitments at Aussie Stadium, Schwarzer was whisked off by his management in a city-bound limo… with FourFourTwo along for the ride. A call comes through to his management.

“Mark, what do you want for lunch? You can have anything and it’ll be ready at the office.”


Schwarzer excitedly, “Ooh, I’d love some pies. Do you think they can get me some pies?”

“Anything you want. How many?” she responds.

“I’d love some Four-N-Twenty pies. I’ll have two. No, make it three.”

The order gets relayed back to HQ and the big man is happy – even if Gareth Southgate, his Boro boss, would hate the thought of his stopper back home pie munching…

Football though, is never far away from Schwarzer’s mind.

You can hear the commitment he has of getting Australia to South Africa not just in his choice of words, but how he says them. With the Asian Cup later this year, the Socceroos fixtures list is healthier than ever and our mid-term success still hinges on Schwarzer’s experience. While Australia continues to benefit from a number of quality keepers coming through, no other keeper can seriously mount a challenge for his job. Schwarzer is the only glovesman able to boast having the bona fide pedigree of being a keeper in the very top echelons of the sport.

In terms of facing penalties, Schwarzer’s growing prowess sees him as one of the, if not the, best in the game. While we all went crazy following the penalties against Uruguay, Schwarzer did the same in crunch games against Canada in 1993, as well as for Boro in the 93rd minute of the last game of the 2004/05 season. Schwarzer stopped a Robbie Fowler spot kick to win a place in the UEFA Cup.

"Look at the scoreboard"

With this in mind, football fans watched, hearts in mouths, when he stood between the posts for the infamous penalty against Italy.

Could our Schwarzer, the penalty-stopping superhero, make the impossible, possible? Did Totti have the balls to beat our man? Amazingly, Schwarzer says he felt as confident as he did during the Uruguay penalties

“It was the same feeling, exactly the same,” he says. “Definitely. I felt that the whole time. And I knew Totti is a top-class player and again I’ve seen him take penalties before and I’ve seen him wait for a goalkeeper to move and I’ve also seen him just pick a spot and place it.

“The way he was looking at me and the way he ran up to the ball… he was still looking at me so I know he was just waiting for me to move and once he saw I wasn’t going to move he picked the spot he wanted to play it and hit it firmly. So unfortunately I wasn’t able to get to it but I wasn’t that far from it. What can you do?!”

Discover what makes Mark a smarter saver… find out about the NAB iSaver account at www.nab.com.auLike his fellow Socceroos, being mobbed is something new for the native Sydneysider. In his time home, Schwarzer surrounded himself with family as often as possible and was seen meeting up with his clan in hotel foyers at every opportunity.

But he knows that success in the Asian Cup will just mean even more home town glory.

“Yeah it’s nice,” he says, smiling. “It’s obviously always been the sleeping giant of Australian sport. Football is such a big sport globally, and we’ve always suffered and been seen as a lesser sport here. It’s nice to come home, especially with the recognition we’ve been receiving from the public. But it’s about getting football on the map in this country. You want to have respect for playing football, rather than people saying ‘wogball’ or ‘It’s a game for sissies’ and so forth.”

Public expectations for our Asian Cup campaign are high, and Schwarzer is quick to warn that the conditions could still prove to be our undoing.

“It’s all exciting times. It was a new experience playing in somewhere like Kuwait, even though obviously it was a bad result for us,” he admits, referring to Australia’s 2-0 Asian Cup qualifier defeat in Kuwait City last year.

“I think it gave a lot of people, a bit of… not a wake up, but a bit of a shake up. To say, ‘Listen, you can’t afford to just turn up a couple of days before the game in these countries and play, because the conditions are so extreme (compared) to what we’re used to.’ It’s just… barely possible. Even coming from Australia and going into those sort of conditions. It’s very, very difficult.”

As for our biggest rivals in Asia, Japan, Schwarzer doesn’t believe we are a cut above them. Rather, he points to an even greater desire from the Blue Samurai to win back honour after our 3-1 win in Kaiserslautern last June.

“I think we’ve shown them we are a good side, and they’ve had a bit of a rebuilding process now. Nakata has retired and he was a big player for them over the past 10 years.

“They’re obviously disappointed about being knocked out of the group stages of the World Cup and especially with us being one of the teams that knocked them out… Now it’s a different ball game for them, as well as it is with South Korea and the other teams. China is another team in the competition who are waiting to again show they can mix it at the top level.”

Mark Schwarzer will be close to 38 by the time the next World Cup rolls around. There are a number of keepers who, certainly by that stage, will be biting at his ankles for the top job. His rivalry with Kalac was an enduring one, but it’s his next rivalry that may actually be the one to really test his mettle.

Only time will tell how well he’ll be playing, but statistics show that goalkeepers don’t fall prey to the sands of time as much as outfield players do. Naturally, all fans judge players and Schwarzer has had both glowing and average reviews over the years. His commitment and work ethic for the cause can’t be questioned though, and, as he has shown in so many big moments, he is a player that grows with the occasion.

Eyes closed: too painful to watch

“It was probably even before the last game (of the World Cup) that I decided I wanted to continue to play,” he reveals. “I’d spoken to my wife about it and she was 100 percent behind me, even though she did moan a bit because it would mean another four years in Europe! But it was something that I knew I needed to do and I wanted to set myself another long-term target and what better target to have than to try and be at the next World Cup and represent your country again.”

On the issue of age, Schwarzer is not too concerned that he can still perform to international standards but has pencilled in his retirement to coincide with the end of the tournament.

“It’s well-documented around football that goalkeepers do tend to hit their prime in their mid-30s and hopefully I’m hitting my prime now. For me I think that would be the pinnacle of my career, and then (I’d) retire after that.”

For a player who some believed once did the unthinkable by putting his club before country, he has surely proven, in every sense, to be one of our country’s finest ever servants.

Discover what makes Mark a smarter saver… find out about the NAB iSaver account at www.nab.com.au