Adelaide United defender Scott Jamieson is determined to re-pay the faith Pim Verbeek has shown by selecting him for the Socceroos’ squad for next month’s AFC Asian Cup 2011 qualifier against Kuwait.
Verbeek has selected the 21-year-old based on what he’s achieved in the past rather than his form in the first half of the 2009-10 Hyundai A-League season.
Jamieson is thrilled to get the opportunity and admitted his selection was somewhat of a surprise.
“My performances haven’t been up to scratch but I feel lately, the last two or three weeks, I’ve been starting to be a bit sharper and getting back into my rhythm,” Jamieson said.
“I was pretty lucky to have the game come up on the 6th of January and I was just starting to creep into some good form, so hopefully I can carry into it and use it as a big springboard to a big second half of the season.”
“I think he (Verbeek) has come out and said I probably haven’t done as well as I could have but to have the faith and the positive things to talk about me, it’s something that I’ll hold and use as motivation to try and work with and I guess use it to play.”
Jamieson said it was an exciting time to get picked for national duties.
“To play for your country with the important time of the World Cup and everything coming around, if you put your good foot forward anything can happen,” he said.
“To be in the mind of the national team is something I’ve always dreamt of and coming back to Australia last year I wanted to try and push my way into something like this.”
Jamieson was named the Reds’ 2008-09 Rising Star after an amazing first year with the club but has failed to reach the same heights this season. The former Bolton Wanderers player admitted his approach wasn’t spot on at the start of the year.
“I didn’t play bad I just wasn’t hitting my straps,” he said.
“The last year or so I’ve probably been eating the goodies and stuff like that – I’ve tried to cut down on it and just getting my body to feel as good as I can and feeling as fit as I can.”
“I’ve got pretty good people around me telling me the things I’ m probably not doing right.”
“The best thing for me was getting dropped, I had to work as hard as ever, and it was a good kick up the arse and hopefully it’s done the right thing for me.”
Team-mate Eugene Galekovic has also been picked for the squad heading to Kuwait but is also being considered as back-up goalkeeper for the World Cup.
Galekovic believes he has enough game time ahead to be ready if he gets the nod for South Africa.
“I’ll have a talk to him (Verbeek) when I’m on camp but I think Adelaide United players and Melbourne Victory boys will be alright, we’ve got the Asian Champions League and our season goes onto until about May so it shouldn’t be a problem,” he said.
