Socceroos Asian Cup 2015: our Australia Day awards for the green and gold national side
IT’S time to hand out awards from Socceroos camp. Who is in need of a pat on the back and who needs to be brought back down to earth?
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THE Australia Day gongs get handed out on Saturday night (EDT), but we’ve decided to give away a few of our own from Socceroos camp.
Matt Windley and David Davutovic spoke to our Aussie Asian Cup heroes to get the goss on their teammates and establish just who in the 22-man squad is need of a pat on the back and who needs to be brought back down to earth.
The best roommate
The start list (this is the list of roommate pairs in this month’s Socceroos camp)
Mile Jedinak - on own
Tim Cahill - on own
Mark Bresciano - on own
Matt McKay - on own
Robbie Kruse - on own
Nathan Burns/Matthew Spiranovic
Mark Milligan/James Troisi
Ivan Franjic/Eugene Galekovic
Alex Wilkinson/Mat Ryan
Trent Sainsbury/Chris Herd
Massimo Luongo/Terry Antonis
Mitch Langerak/Tommy Oar
Jason Davidson/Mathew Leckie
Tomi Juric/Aziz Behich
Winner - Trent Sainsbury
We’ve given the gong to Trent Sainsbury, who shared this bit of dirt on Chris Herd before he left camp last week because of his Achilles injury.
“It’s kind of scary sometimes,” Sainsbury said of Herd.
“He sleep talks every night. Some words I can’t repeat, but one night I walked in to the room and he was already asleep and just started screaming ‘NO, NO! Don’t do it, don’t do it!’ And then he tried to run in to the curtains. Classic.”
Special mention goes to Alex Wilkinson who seems to be having a good influence on his old Central Coast teammate Mat Ryan.
“He’s all right,” Wilkinson said. “He just likes to talk himself up and think he’s all that. You’ve got to bring him down a peg. He likes to talk a big game, but once he’s in the room he’s all good.”
Biggest pest
The Nominations
Ivan Franjic
Robbie Kruse
Aziz Behich
Mat Ryan
Jason Davidson
Tim Cahill
Winner - Ivan Franjic
With five votes, Ivan Franjic pipped Robbie Kruse in what was one of the most hotly contested categories.
Complaints about Franjic included these from roommate Eugene Galekovic - “He’s just loud” - Mark Milligan - “He’s always causing a bit of mischief” - and Mitch Langerak - “He loves taking the mickey out of everyone.”
The general consensus was that Franjic gets the nod ahead of Kruse because most of the Socceroos actually find Kruse funny.
Aziz Behich, Mat Ryan, Jason Davidson and Tim Cahill all received single nominations.
Biggest joker
The Nominations
Robbie Kruse
Trent Sainsbury
Jason Davidson
Tim Cahill
Mark Bresciano
Winner - Robbie Kruse
Runaway winner Robbie Kruse scored 10 votes in this category.
Special mention goes to Trent Sainsbury, who was the only other player to receive multiple nominations, but it’s Kruse who appears most capable of kicking on with a career in comedy post-football.
Eugene Galekovic said he likes to sit on his table at dinner “to hear all of his jokes”, Mitch Langerak said “he’s got the best banter”, while Matt Spiranovic said “he’s just got a comment for everything”.
Not everyone is a fan of Kruse’s work, with Sainsbury saying “he does make you laugh, not because he’s all that funny but because what he says is just stupid.”
But Nathan Burns said this award has been a long time coming for his mate. “He’s just a funny guy,” Burns said. “I remember the days in class together at the Australian Institute of Sport and he was just sleeping on his desk while I was taking notes.”
And no, Mark Bresciano’s nomination was not a joke, James Troisi insists he’s being serious.
“He’s really quiet, but he likes a bit of a joke every now and then,” Troisi said.
“He’s a funny guy, you wouldn’t think it, but he just saves up his best stuff.”
Coach’s pet
The Nominations
Matt McKay
Winner - Matt McKay
Literally the only person to score a vote in this category was Matt McKay, making him the undisputed coach’s pet. McKay was a star pupil of Ange Postecoglou’s in their days together at Brisbane Roar and it seems that time has done little to break their bond. Some anecdotes? Nathan Burns: “He’s Mr President of the Players’ Association, you can’t get more of a pet than that can you?” Alex Wilkinson: “He was with Ange in Brisbane for a few years and is always in the right.” Mark Milligan: “He’s always setting the example, Matty, making the rest of us look bad.” Mitch Langerak: “Maybe it’s just the love story from when they were in Brisbane together at the Roar.” Trent Sainsbury: “Never puts a foot wrong.”
Best at FIFA 15
The Nominations
Mathew Leckie
The winner - Mathew Leckie
Like McKay in the coach’s pet category, anyone who submitted a vote here plumped for Mathew Leckie. “He’s a good player, you’ve got to say,” Mitch Langerak said. “But I think he just sits at home and plays video games all day. The rest of us have got lives.”
Worst at FIFA 15
The Nominations
Tim Cahill
Ivan Franjic
Robbie Kruse
Alex Wilkinson
The winner - Tim Cahill
He may appear on the front cover of the game itself, but that doesn’t mean Tim Cahill is so good when it comes to playing it. Cahill is our leading Asian Cup goalscorer, but in the virtual world he received seven nominations from teammates who think he’s the worst when it comes to his exploits on the PlayStation and Xbox. “Whenever I’m in there he’s always complaining,” Mark Milligan said. “So I reckon that’s a pretty fair indication.”
The Socceroos love story
The Nominations
Jason Davidson/Mathew Leckie
Jason Davidson/Tim Cahill
Robbie Kruse/Mitch Langerak
James Troisi/Mat Ryan
Tim Cahill/Terry Antonis
The winner - Jason Davidson/Mathew Leckie
Without doubt the most awkward category, mainly because of the habits of one of our winners.
The exact question the Socceroos players were asked to answer was: “Which two players cannot be separated?” Jason Davidson’s partnership with Mathew Leckie received five nominations from teammates, but coming in with four votes was also the Jason Davidson-Tim Cahill relationship.
There will be some serious questions asked over breakfast in Socceroos camp, with Davidson in desperate need to explain just exactly where his heart lies.
Also with four votes was Robbie Kruse and Mitch Langerak, but this love story is much more straight forward as Matt Spiranovic said “it must be because they play in Germany together”.
The social media king
The contenders (their Twitter handle is listed)
@Tim_Cahill 721,000
@MatyRyan @44,900
@MassLuongo 40,200
@jasondavidson29 37,800
@TommyOar10 35,400
@mmills05 32,900
@JTroisi14 32,800
@Franjic5 32,200
@Matt_Spiranovic 30,600
@alexwilkinson84 18,100
@AzizBehich 6130
@Tsainsbury92 5271
@nathanburns10 4179
@TerryAntonis 1850
The winner: Tim Cahill
Making the most of my rest time with the recovery machine while watching #Krusey talk football on @FOXSportsNews 👊👊👊 pic.twitter.com/zQKVX489DT
— Tim Cahill (@Tim_Cahill) January 24, 2015
With a staggering 721,000 Twitter followers, the undisputed king of social media is Tim Cahill. To put that number in to perspective, Wallaby and Queensland Reds star Quade Cooper has 455,000 followers, AFL idol Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin has 281,000 and NRL champ Billy Slater has 122,000. With bicycle kicks such as the one he brought out the other night, Cahill’s account barely needs any more of a plug, but Australia’s all-time leading scorer does provide followers with a pretty good behind-the-scenes insight.
Originally published as Socceroos Asian Cup 2015: our Australia Day awards for the green and gold national side
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