Melbourne Victory defender Matthew Kemp is targeting a return to the Qantas Socceroos now that he has fully recovered from his knee injury.
Melbourne Victory defender Matthew Kemp is targeting a return to the Qantas Socceroos now that he has fully recovered from his knee injury.
Kemp made his debut for Australia in an Asian Cup qualifier against Kuwait in January last year but less than a month later he tore his anterior cruciate ligament, which kept him on the sidelines for nine months.
He returned to play the second half of last season, but has only had limited game-time this campaign with his first start coming last week against Central Coast.
The 31-year-old got his chance in the absence of Matthew Foschini, who will be missing for three weeks due to suspension and Olyroos duty.
“Had to wait a while, but obviously nice to be back and hopefully I can stay there,” he said.
“It’s not the way I wanted to get my chance, I’d like to earn my spot, but having said that I’ll take any chance I can get and I’ve got that now and I’m not going to be giving it back in a hurry.”
Kemp says his knee has never felt better and is confident once he builds up his match fitness he’ll be back in the mix for a Socceroos call-up.
“The knee doesn’t bother me at all, it’s not an issue,” he said.
“As far as the knee goes the sharpness is there but it’s just a matter of getting a game time, that sort of fitness (Socceroos) was after a season of playing games and I’ll need that sort of match practice to get back there but I have no doubt that if I keep out on the park then I’ll be back there again.”
“The more games I play, the better I get. (After) two to three games I’m going to be a lot better than I was on the weekend, but come the end of the season if I’ve played 20 odd games, I think I’m going to just keep improving, so hopefully can hit my straps come finals time.”
After a slow start to the season that has yielded just one win from six matches, Kemp said it’s only a matter of time before the star-studded Victory side gel together.
“I think it’s coming, we’re working hard all week to be a bit more adventurous to create more chances.”
“It’s just those little things where you know the guy next to you what he’s going to do and he knows what you’re going to do and it becomes second nature.”
“At the moment it feels a bit like we haven’t quite got that (chemistry) – I think that’s still coming and when it clicks we’ll be good and hopefully it comes sooner rather than later.”
“I think we just need to worry more about ourselves and with the squad we’ve got once we get that chemistry right then I think we should let teams worry about us.”
