Michael Beauchamp has put his hand-up for selection in Holger Osieck’s first Qantas Socceroos squad even if it means missing matches for his new club Melbourne Heart.
Australia plays two friendlies against Switzerland and Poland in early September, the first two matches under their new German coach.
Beauchamp, who played in the final World Cup match against Serbia in South Africa, wants to make a good first impression and said he is ready and willing to travel to Europe, despite the fact he would likely miss two matches for his club.
“If selected, I’ll put my hand up. Again it comes down to them, what they want and what they are looking for. The last game they only chose overseas players, so it comes down to that. We’ll watch happens,” he said.
Beauchamp spent several years in Germany with Nuremburg, but never came across Osieck, who was coaching mainly in Asia during that time. However, he expects he will be a considerable asset for the national squad and is keen to play under him as soon as possible.
“I did a Wikipedia search on him. He’ll have that German mentality, they play great football and it will be interesting to have him,” he said.
On a club level, Beauchamp feels things are progressing with Heart despite just one point from their first two matches.
The experienced defender, who played a season with Central Coast Mariners in season one, said the playing group is growing more understanding of one another with each week as they adapt to coach John van ‘t Schip’s style of play.
“I think each training session, we are getting that (understanding) more. The banter is slowly coming into the team, which is a good thing. If we can have that team spirit, towards the end of the season, if times do get tough, that’s what is going to get us through games.”
He said that the team will persist with that plan against Adelaide on Friday night.
“We are working towards that first goal there, to play football from the back. Again it-s going to be a physical and tough game. We are looking forward to it. We are looking forward to going there and hopefully getting a win, it would be good to get something on the board,” he said.
Melbourne Victory and Adelaide have shared a long rivalry in the Hyundai A-League, but Beauchamp doesn-t see anything special about Friday’s game for Heart, saying that they need to prove themselves every week.
“I think there’s a rivalry for Melbourne Heart every week we play now. Everyone wants to try and beat us. With the names we have on paper, we-ve got a great mixture of young players and a great mixture of older and experienced players,” he said.
“Across the board we are a pretty strong team but if we can get that on the field, I’m pretty sure every team is going to step up against us.”
