From state league defender to Socceroo regular, ACL-winning captain and Asian Player of the Year in just six years. Sasa Ognenovski on peaking late, if he hates Pim Verbeek, Korean karaoke and how Wolverine would play him on screen! Richard Scott chats to the giant defender to find out how it was all possible...

At 32, Sasa Ognenovski is something of a late bloomer. Rewind just six years and the hard-boiled 1.95m Socceroos centre-back was lining up for, now defunct, amateur outfit Fawkner-Whittlesea Blues in the Victoria Premier League. Since then, his footballing ascent has been nothing short of meteoric.

Signed for then-named Queensland Roar in 2006, Sasa transferred to Adelaide United in 2008 making a combined total of 61 A-League appearances, playing in the 2008 AFC Asian Champions League Final [finishing second to Japan’s Gamba Osaka] and earning a runners-up medal to Melbourne Victory in the 2008-2009  A-League grand final. His impressive form even saw him voted 2008’s second best Macedonian footballer of the year, behind Inter Milan striker Goran Pandev [currently on loan at Napoli].

Despite the plaudits, the Melbourne-born defender was routinely ignored by renowned A-League detractor and former Australia coach Pim Verbeek for international selection. Dismayed, Sasa put his hand up for the Republic of Macedonia, receiving an international call-up against Moldova in 2009 but, maddeningly, he found himself unable to play due to eligibility issues.

The same year Sasa became a target for both Japanese and South Korean league clubs, kicking off a bidding war between the K-League’s Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and FC Seoul for his signature.

He signed with Seongnam on a two-year deal in January 2009, captaining the side to AFC Champions League victory in his second season, taking out Man of the Match for the final and being voted the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. 2010 also saw the Seongnam skipper become the first Aussie to be crowned Asian Footballer of the Year – quite a feat for a defender – and his inclusion into the K-League’s BestXI for that season.

Ignoring Ognenovski was virtually impossible by this stage and his patience was finally rewarded when the new Socceroo head coach Holger Osieck handed Sasa his first cap in a friendly against 2010 African Cup of Nations champions Egypt in Cairo at the end of 2010. He’s since made a total of 10 appearances in the green and gold, including every match of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup – partnering skipper and defensive stalwart Lucas Neill – and playing every minute of that Asian cup final against Japan in Qatar.

Now a first-choice Socceroo and in the form of his life, the reigning Asian Player of the Year may seem to have come out of the blue for many Australian football fans but for the man himself it’s been a very long time coming. And to think, we could quite easily have lost him to the Macedonian national team were it not for a bureaucratic oversight.

Still, Macedonia’s loss is our gain as we spoke to the veteran defender about donning the green and gold for the first time, how long he’s got left in him, his Korean karaoke skills and having Wolverine play him on film. 

Sasa, you’ve been called the “late developer’s late developer”. How does it feel to achieve veteran status as a relative newcomer to the Socceroos squad?
Everything that’s happened to me so far has just been fantastic. I’ve been given an opportunity much later than some. At the same time, I first played overseas in Greece [for Panachaiki GE] at 21, 22 but had to come back home after just six months because the club went bankrupt. Things like that you just can’t predict. My life may have gone the other way completely. But it’s been a great ride and to come out of nowhere to become part of the Socceroos now is amazing.

You’ve also been dubbed “Scary Sasa”, “Ogre” and, bizarrely, “The Ogg Monster”. Do others see you as a hard-man? An Aussie Vinnie Jones perhaps?
I like to attack the ball. Not many defenders really attack the ball with as much aggression as me. I’m not short [1.95m] and I always want to win the ball. I never shirk a challenge. Sometimes I’ll win the ball through sheer will than anything else. But Vinnie Jones? Not so much. Vinnie focused his aggression on the man, I concentrate on the ball. I’ll never deliberately intimidate a player. Still, it can’t be much fun seeing me go in [for a tackle] at a 100 miles-an-hour.

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