A lack of football at Aston Villa isn’t a concern for Joe Gauci ahead of expected Socceroos appearance

The absence of captain Mat Ryan from the Socceroos’ latest camp has left an opening that Joe Gauci hopes to fill against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Joe Gauci hopes to play against Bangladesh on Thursday night in the absence of Socceroos captain Mat Ryan. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Former Adelaide United goalkeeper Joe Gauci is confident his lack of game time at Aston Villa won’t be a problem if he gets the nod as Mat Ryan’s replacement for the Socceroos’ clash with Bangladesh in Dhaka on Thursday night.

Resting a minor knee problem, Socceroos captain and long-time first choice gloveman Ryan is missing from the 25-man national squad selected for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers against the Bengal Tigers and Palestine, who Australia hosts in Perth on Tuesday week.

The absence of the vastly experienced Ryan, who has been capped 93 times, has left a vacancy that not only Gauci, but also the other two keepers in the squad – Western Sydney’s Lawrence Thomas and Melbourne Victory’s Paul Izzo – are eager to fill.

However, it’s 23-year-old Gauci – who hasn’t played a game since his February move to Villa, where he is the third-choice gloveman behind Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez and Sweden’s Robin Olsen – who is favoured to start.

Joe Gauci has been working hard at Aston Villa. Picture: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images

“I’m ready to play if called upon” Gauci said.

“Every (Socceroos) camp is another opportunity. That doesn’t change with Maty in or out of camp.

“Every time I step into camp it’s an opportunity to show the progressions that I’m making and the development I’m making in my game, That doesn’t change now.

“I’m in camp with two other experienced goalkeepers who are probably eager to play minutes for the Socceroos as well. I know they definitely are, so for me, it doesn’t change.

“It’s an opportunity to come in and show my level and the improvements that I’ve been making at Villa with their support and development over there, and now coming here and obviously aiming to play.

“It’s the same if Maty was here. I don’t think anyone would want it any differently. “Everyone’s aiming to play, and then the coaches make the decision and we support everyone with that.”

Gauci said after a tough period of adjustment at Villa, it had “all started to click” in the past two months, which has him confident of playing well should he start between the posts on Thursday night.

“Instead of having one game at the end of the week to aim on like I did at Adelaide, every training session (at Villa) is like a game for me because it’s an opportunity to perform at a high level and to try to get better,” he said.

“There’s probably not a bigger jump you can make in the football world than from Australia to the (English) Premier League.

“I never really expected the jump to be that big. I guess I was always aiming for the heights of the top leagues in Europe but to make that jump, the level is definitely a lot different.
“There’s been an adaptation period, and they’ve made that quite clear to me that it’s going to take me some time to settle in.

“There’s a lot of factors that have gone into that. It definitely hasn’t been easy adapting to the level and finding my routine but as my time has progressed, probably the last six to eight weeks of the season, I felt much more settled and it felt like I was able to really be myself and express myself on the field.

“With the adjustments that they’ve made to me as a goalkeeper, I was starting to feel that improvement and it’s all started to click.”

Originally published as A lack of football at Aston Villa isn’t a concern for Joe Gauci ahead of expected Socceroos appearance