Australia’s goalkeeping options show the strength of Asian Cup squad

Australia has a great legacy of international goalkeeping talent, which will be tested at the Asian Cup, writes Ian Hawkey.

Club Brugge goalkeeper Mathew Ryan is Australia's first-choice stopper and will be between the sticks during the hosts Asian Cup campaign. Robert Cianflone/Getty

One played in a Uefa Champions League semi-final as recently as April, while another was on the bench for the final of the same competition 11 months earlier.

There was a third who picked up a runners-up medal in last season’s Premier League and a fourth who was a semi-finalist at the 2014 Club World Cup.

It seems Australian goalkeepers have been keeping some elevated dates in elite club football recently.

Yet none of the men in that list will likely line up between the posts for the hosts of the Asian Cup when the tournament ­begins today.

Mark Schwarzer, the veteran on the losing side when Chelsea were defeated by Atletico Madrid in the last four of the latest European Cup, retired from international football a year ago at the age of 41 and after 109 Australia caps. This month he moved from Stamford Bridge to rival Premier League club Leicester City.

Meanwhile, Mitchell Langerak, whose five years at Borussia Dortmund have yielded two Bundesliga titles and that second place in the European Cup in 2013, will be part of the Australia squad aspiring to win the Asian Cup, though, at present, as first reserve.

As for Brad Jones, he has not even made the cut for Australia, his disappointment compensated by the fact he is closer to first-choice status at his club Liverpool than he has ever been.

Jones was keeping Simon Mignolet on the bench until injury last month again changed the fluctuating hierarchy of glovemen at Anfield.

Like Jones, Western Sydney Warriors’ Ante Covic, who was voted the most valuable player in the last Asian Champions League and was part of his club’s sound showing at the Club World Cup in Morocco, does not rate one of the three keeper spots in Australia’s squad.

The country-continent has proven fertile territory for fine goalkeepers for the best part of two decades, and talent-spotters from Europe have recognised as much.

Schwarzer achieved several accolades in English football, including being the longest-serving player in the Premier League from outside the British Isles.

He has appeared in European finals with two clubs: Middlesbrough in the Uefa Cup and Fulham in the Europa League.

Schwarzer reached his century of Australia caps against strong competition for the national goalkeeper’s spot.

Mark Bosnich, who played for Manchester United, Chelsea and Aston Villa, was a contemporary. The agile Bosnich would certainly have had more than 17 caps had he not had disciplinary problems – United manager Alex Ferguson described him as “a terrible professional” – in his club career.

The giant Zjelko Kalac – like Schwarzer and Bosnich, born in Sydney in 1972 – won European Cup and Serie A winners medals with AC Milan and developed a fierce rivalry with Schwarzer for the national No 1 jersey.

Both emerged in Australian club football shortly before Geelong-born Joey Didiluca, who was a Dutch league champion with Ajax Amsterdam. Didiluca found opportunities with the Australian team so limited he eventually accepted an approach to represent Croatia, for whom he qualified through his parents.

There is no definitive reason for Australia seeming to breed so many top-class keepers, disproportionate to, say, the number of elite-class strikers from the country.

One theory, though, is that many of the best came through schools where football was not the chief sport on the curriculum, but sports that involved catching and handling skills usually were.

Being strong and keen athletes, they thrived from a young age at whatever was on offer, be it rugby union, rugby league or Australian Rules football. Nor are the skills of a sharp slips fielder in cricket likely to harm the aspiring shot-stopper.

The new generation is led by Mathew Ryan, 22, whose impressive progress in Belgian football, with Club Brugge, established him as Schwarzer’s successor and as the first pick at last summer’s World Cup finals.

Ryan benefited from Schwarzer’s decision to retire from international duty. He also made his case to be the No 1 in Brazil because he was thriving at his club while Jones, 32, and 26-year-old Langerak, though employed in tougher leagues than Belgium’s, were understudies at Liverpool and ­Dortmund.

That situation became more complicated for Australia coach Ange Postecoglou at the end of 2014. First, Dortmund, troubled by a leaky defence that had caused them to slip towards the Bundesliga’s relegation zone, dropped German international Roman Weidenfeller from guarding the net and promoted the younger Langerak.

Dortmund’s coach Jurgen Klopp had always had faith in the positive influence and ability of the Australian, and Postecoglou would recognise the qualities Klopp lists: “He brings us a freshness and enthusiasm,” the German coach said.

Soon after Langerak had gained the No 1 spot at Dortmund, Jones suddenly had the big break he had waited patiently for more than four-and-a-half years at Liverpool. Unluckily for him, his promotion ahead of Mignolet lasted only three Premier League games last month because he strained a hamstring.

In Jones’s absence, Eugene Galekovic, of Adelaide United, will be back-up to Ryan and Langerak in the Asian Cup squad.

The trio represent a concentration of talent that reminds Bosnich of his own epoch, when Schwarzer and Kalac were coming to the fore.

“There’s nothing wrong with having pressure, and the pressure will come on Mat Ryan now that somebody’s nipping at his heels,” Bosnich, who is now a pundit, said at a launch event for the Asian Cup. “Mitch Langerak has not just replaced any old keeper [at Dortmund]. Weidenfeller is a very good one, so Mitch will feel he’s ready to play now and has proved it.”

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