Some 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?!”

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