Asian Cup 2015: Socceroo Ivan Franjic injured but flying high after final triumph
STARTING the Asian Cup final under an injury cloud, gutsy right-back Ivan Franjic conceded he didn’t expect to last 74 minutes on Saturday.
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STARTING the Asian Cup final under an injury cloud, gutsy right-back Ivan Franjic conceded he didn’t expect to last 74 minutes on Saturday.
An emotional Franjic limped off as his groin gave way on him again, but he was confident of being fully fit within a fortnight for Russians Torpedo Moscow, after revealing that a Melbourne City loan deal had collapsed.
Franjic, who thought his Asian Cup was over when he went down against UAE in the semi-final, lined up just four days later in the high octane final at ANZ Stadium.
Having passed a fitness test the day before the game, Franjic started and overcame a nervy start and a sixth minute booking to produce a resolute performance.
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“I don’t think they expected me to last that long, but I was just going to keep fighting until it gave way,’’ Franjic said.
“It went when Ki (Sung-yueng) ran down the line and I overstretched and felt it again.
“It’s always in the back of your mind, you’re never going to be 100 per cent, but I just battled it out and they said before the game give as much as you could and I did, then Millsy (Mark Milligan) went to right back and did a great job.
“In Newcastle it didn’t look good and I thought I might miss, but I told the physios straight after the game I’m going to play the final and I had that mindset straight after the game.
“Credit to the physios, they worked overtime to get me out there.’’
Franjic had a host of A-League clubs after him when he declared to the Herald Sun in January that he wanted to return on loan.
He was on the verge of joining City, despite offers from Brisbane Roar and Sydney FC.
Buoyed by his impressive Asian Cup, his Russian club is understood to have done a backflip after originally agreeing to release him on loan.
“I think I’m going back, they want me back,’’ he said.
“The Russian season doesn’t start for a month so I’ve got a bit of time to get fit.
“It’s a strain but probably be a bit worse, when you have an injury you compensate elsewhere, but I’ll be back up and running in a week or two.’’
Franjic said the 2-1 win over South Korea was a complete performance and just reward.
“This was Ange’s plan all along, that it would come to the Asian Cup and we would lift that trophy, he believed it, he said it six months ago and everyone bought into it and we held the trophy,’’ Franjic said.
“From the start we expected to win, we’ve got the belief in the camp, we’ve got that never say die attitude and we showed that we can play great football but scrap it when we need to.’’
Originally published as Asian Cup 2015: Socceroo Ivan Franjic injured but flying high after final triumph
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