If you asked the average soccer supporter who was in the Australian Under 23 team that will contest the OFC Olympic Games qualifiers starting next week in Sydney, it’s probably fair to say that Jon McKain is not one of the first names that will spring to mind.

That is not to say his selection in the squad is a surprise, having played for the Young Socceroos at the World Youth Championships in Argentina in 2001 and being a consistent performer for Brisbane Strikers and now his club in Romania National Bucuresti.
There is no doubt that his move to Romania opened up more opportunities for him in terms of the National Team, especially since he went straight into the first team at National and he hasn’t looked back.
“I was confident I could play at that level,” McKain said from the teams’ camp in Brisbane. “When I wanted to leave it was important that I went not to be just a squad player but to play regularly.
“When you go overseas you want to be playing, you are only going to improve if you are playing week in, week out. When I had a look at the club, I thought I had a good chance of playing here and I did alright in the first few games and cemented my spot there.
So what improvement has he noticed in his game since going to Romania?
“I definitely have improved as a player since going over there. One of the main things that has improved in my game at the back is my reading of the game, which is very important for a defender being the last line.
“My coach in Romania is Walter Zenga, the Italian goalkeeping legend, so having a defensively minded coach has helped me a lot in terms of reading the game and positional play and things like that.
“There is also dealing with the pressure especially when you are playing in front of much bigger crowds every week and their expectations are a lot more, so I think those areas in particular I have improved.”
Tomorrow night (Saturday January 10), the Under 23’s plays it second preparation game before next Wednesday’s opening qualifying game against Samoa, with a match against McKain’s former club Brisbane. McKain made his debut for the club in the 1999/2000 season and made a total 67 games and scored 3 goals.
“I can’t wait to play against them actually. I was training with them before I went into the camp just to stay fit and they are a good group of lads and obviously they are doing very well this season.
“It will be a difficult match, and I imagine on the pitch it will be intense as they are quite a strong side, but after the match it will be all laughs.
Asked if he had made any special plea’s to coach Frank Farina to start the match, McKain said with a laugh, he hadn’t.
“No I haven’t, but this is one game I would definitely like to start from the warm up games. But obviously that is not my call, so if I’m in the line-up great and if not hopefully I can come on and cause a bit of trouble for them.”
The team will go into the Brisbane game very confident having seen off the challenge of Korea Republic last Wednesday in Perth.
“We played quite well I thought. For the first hit-out in many months, we played extremely well in terms of keeping the ball and getting some cohesion amongst the team.
“The first half in particular we caused them a bit of trouble and defensively we were solid as a rock, they never caused us any trouble at all. The second half when I came on, I think the game opened up more and I think they one chance, but having said that and you look at the game, we had three one on ones, they hit the crossbar once but other that they created very little and we had a lot of the play.
“We’ve set the standard now and the bar’s quite high and the challenge is to keep at that level now and raise it more. I’m am sure we have got the ability to keep going and build on it.”
McKain though faces a tough task in trying to make the starting eleven when it comes to the big games, with Australia’s defence line considered the strongest part of the squad.
“It will be difficult (to break into the starting eleven). Central defence is one of the toughest and where we are really strong. We have Lubes (Ljubo Milicevic), David Tarka who is solid as a rock and Michael Beauchamp who didn’t play against Korea and is a great player and then you have the two wingbacks, who can also play in the middle.
“There is also other players that are on the fringe, so defensively we are very strong at this level. It is a challenge and something I’m looking forward to. It’s a long month and you need a strong squad, so I just have to do as well as I can when I get the chance.”
While everyone expects to qualify easily for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, McKain and the rest of the team are not getting too far ahead of themselves.
“I don’t think anybody is looking too far ahead. Our first expectation is to top the group, everyone understands that anything less than that is unacceptable.
“I don’t think anybody wants to let this chance go by. I have spoken to Ljubo several times, we don’t just want to qualify for the Olympics, we want to go there having qualified strongly and go over there and do well and not go out in the first round.
“But first thing is to qualify and nobody is getting to carried with the result against Korea as we know there is still a lot of work to be done.”
Tomorrow’s game against Brisbane at Perry Park kicks off at 7.00pm and along with McKain, two other former Strikers players Wayne Srhoj and Jade North, should also play a part in the game.