BRUCE Djite is starting to feel at home as a Socceroo but admits a starting berth alongside Harry Kewell would be a dream come true on Sunday night.
To see today's training session at Parramatta Stadium...
And to see them meeting fans after the training session
The Turkey-bound forward looked sharp in training at Parramatta Stadium today. A shooting drill saw the striker in blistering form as he crashed shot after shot past goalkeepers Michael Petkovic, Ante Covic and Jess Vanstrattan.
Djite is being tipped to line up in attack with Kewell for the China World Cup qualifier.
Speaking to the media after the session he said: "Just training with him (Kewell) is a great experience so if I play on Sunday night it would be a dream come true for me.
"He's always giving me good advice. Just watching him play you can learn so much and whenever you talk to him he's always got positive things to say.
"I've learned so much. Not so much learning directly like a teacher-student relationship, it's more recognising what he does and when he does it."
Djite has come a long way in the last two years but likes to think he's made it happen.
He said: "There's a lot of hard work you put into these things. If it does happen (a starting slot) I'll be ecstatic but what's most important is we go out and win the game.
"But you treat it like any other game and in any other game I'd give 110 per cent and try and do my best. That's what I'll be doing in this game.
"Especially with olympics coming up it's important to get as much game time as possible."
Djite is encouraged that he has been part of the Verbeek plan from day one and said: "I've been in every single camp since Pim took over as coach and if I can keep doing well in training and giving good performances then there's no reason why I can't continue being part of the squad on a regular basis."
China is the next test for Djite and Australia. The forward said: "We will take them very seriously. They are going to come out here to win the game and upset a lot of people. We're not going to let them do that.
"They say it's a dead rubber but there's a lot of people that are going to be there, supporting us and expecting nothing less than a win. So it's our responsibility to put on a good performance for them."
To see today's training session at Parramatta Stadium...
And to see them meeting fans after the training session
And to see them meeting fans after the training session
The Turkey-bound forward looked sharp in training at Parramatta Stadium today. A shooting drill saw the striker in blistering form as he crashed shot after shot past goalkeepers Michael Petkovic, Ante Covic and Jess Vanstrattan.
Djite is being tipped to line up in attack with Kewell for the China World Cup qualifier.
Speaking to the media after the session he said: "Just training with him (Kewell) is a great experience so if I play on Sunday night it would be a dream come true for me.
"He's always giving me good advice. Just watching him play you can learn so much and whenever you talk to him he's always got positive things to say.
"I've learned so much. Not so much learning directly like a teacher-student relationship, it's more recognising what he does and when he does it."
Djite has come a long way in the last two years but likes to think he's made it happen.
He said: "There's a lot of hard work you put into these things. If it does happen (a starting slot) I'll be ecstatic but what's most important is we go out and win the game.
"But you treat it like any other game and in any other game I'd give 110 per cent and try and do my best. That's what I'll be doing in this game.
"Especially with olympics coming up it's important to get as much game time as possible."
Djite is encouraged that he has been part of the Verbeek plan from day one and said: "I've been in every single camp since Pim took over as coach and if I can keep doing well in training and giving good performances then there's no reason why I can't continue being part of the squad on a regular basis."
China is the next test for Djite and Australia. The forward said: "We will take them very seriously. They are going to come out here to win the game and upset a lot of people. We're not going to let them do that.
"They say it's a dead rubber but there's a lot of people that are going to be there, supporting us and expecting nothing less than a win. So it's our responsibility to put on a good performance for them."
To see today's training session at Parramatta Stadium...
And to see them meeting fans after the training session
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