It has been a long time coming for Rodrigo “Roddy” Vargas but he now finds himself on the cusp of a national cap. 29 years old Vargas has been selected in Pim’s twenty-three man squad to take on Ghana on Friday 23rd of May in Sydney and it looks like he may get a start.
Vargas has been a standout performer for Victory in its recent AFC Champions League campaign. One of the few Victory players who could be justified in holding their heads high and it is a well deserved call up.
Vargas had a long and successful career in the Victorian Premier League and National Soccer League before joining Melbourne Victory. He began his senior career back in 1996 for Springvale City at the age of 17 and then moved onto the Port Melbourne Sharks the following year. After spending three seasons at the sharks he was recruited to the National Soccer League by the Melbourne Knights back in 1999 and spent the next five years there. Although the Knights were not overly successful in this period (the best finish for them was a fourth in 2001) Roddy was awarded the captaincy and was a fixture in the centre of the Knights defence for the entire five seasons.
When the old NSL came to an end in 2004 he moved to the Victorian Premier League with Green Gully and was part of the Championship winning team of 2005. In 2006 Ernie Merrick recruited him to the Melbourne Victory in a bid to strengthen the defence. The move proved extremely successful and Vargas developed a strong partnership with youngster and former Knights team mate Adrian Leijer that was a major contributing factor is the Victory’s double win of the Premiership and Championship in the 2006/7 season.
Although Melbourne’s defence of their title last season was less than impressive Vargas continued to shine with the end result a call up to the 36 man squad that new national coach, Pim Verbeek, named for the World Cup Qualifier against Qatar. Although we eventually missed out on a start for that game it appears that he has remained in Pim’s thoughts and may get his chance to represent his country against Ghana.
With Vargas, Michael Beauchamp, Adam Griffiths and Matthew Spiranovic (also looking for his first cap) all vying for the two (and maybe three) centre back positions a starting position is not assured but Roddy must like his chances.
Vargas has been a standout performer for Victory in its recent AFC Champions League campaign. One of the few Victory players who could be justified in holding their heads high and it is a well deserved call up.
Vargas had a long and successful career in the Victorian Premier League and National Soccer League before joining Melbourne Victory. He began his senior career back in 1996 for Springvale City at the age of 17 and then moved onto the Port Melbourne Sharks the following year. After spending three seasons at the sharks he was recruited to the National Soccer League by the Melbourne Knights back in 1999 and spent the next five years there. Although the Knights were not overly successful in this period (the best finish for them was a fourth in 2001) Roddy was awarded the captaincy and was a fixture in the centre of the Knights defence for the entire five seasons.
When the old NSL came to an end in 2004 he moved to the Victorian Premier League with Green Gully and was part of the Championship winning team of 2005. In 2006 Ernie Merrick recruited him to the Melbourne Victory in a bid to strengthen the defence. The move proved extremely successful and Vargas developed a strong partnership with youngster and former Knights team mate Adrian Leijer that was a major contributing factor is the Victory’s double win of the Premiership and Championship in the 2006/7 season.
Although Melbourne’s defence of their title last season was less than impressive Vargas continued to shine with the end result a call up to the 36 man squad that new national coach, Pim Verbeek, named for the World Cup Qualifier against Qatar. Although we eventually missed out on a start for that game it appears that he has remained in Pim’s thoughts and may get his chance to represent his country against Ghana.
With Vargas, Michael Beauchamp, Adam Griffiths and Matthew Spiranovic (also looking for his first cap) all vying for the two (and maybe three) centre back positions a starting position is not assured but Roddy must like his chances.
Pim’s full 23 man squad can be here
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2 comments:
what you think of Craig's idea that this should only be classified as a 'B' international (i.e. no senior caps given) because the squad is so experimental?
I am not a big fan of grading internationals into "A" and "B"
These players are representing their country and deserved to be reconized as such. If we start spliting hairs over whether a game deserves A Status where does it stop.
I think a friendly match against Ghana deserves more credit than a Asian Cup Qualifer against Bahrain
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