Melbourne City winger Marco Tilio keen for Socceroos recall after tough injury battle

An A-League star has hit form at the right time in his bid to be recalled to the Socceroos squad.

Resurgent Melbourne City winger Marco Tilio has his sights on a first Socceroos appearance in 13 months.

Having been plagued by injuries for much of the past year, Tilio has made a timely return to fitness and, more importantly, form ahead of Australia’s upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Indonesia (March 20, Sydney) and China (March 25, Hangzhou).

With the Socceroos squad being announced on Friday, Tilio – whose most recent appearance for Australia was in January last year against Uzbekistan at the AFC Asian Cup – has one more chance to impress national coach Tony Popovic when City hosts Newcastle at AAMI Park on Wednesday night.

“I’ve just been worried about playing, and playing consistently, and putting myself out there for the team,” said 23-year-old Tilio, who has scored two goals in his past four games as he returns to somewhere near his best after making his comeback from a long-term hamstring injury in late January.

Marco Tilio (left) is congratulated by teammate Andreas Kuen after scoring a goal for Melbourne City. Picture: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

“I’ve been trying to put this string of games together and have good form to put myself in that (Socceroos) window, but ultimately I just wanted to be out there playing football.

“If something like that comes along, I’d be privileged to be back in the Socceroos’ set-up, so we’ll just wait and see, but for now, I’m just worrying about the game on Wednesday, putting in a good performance and winning.”

A win over the Jets would lift City to second on the A-League ladder and cut Auckland FC’s lead at the top of the table to four points.

“There are so many of us that have had spells on the sideline, and we’re slowly all coming together now, and it’s starting to come to fruition now,” Tilio said.

“We’ve had a good run of games together, and I think we’re only going to get stronger.

“We know we’re up for a big game (against the Jets), but the main thing for us is to just focus on ourselves and hopefully go out there on our home ground and get three points.”

Tilio is pushing for a Socceroos recall. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Tilio, who is on loan to City from Scottish giants Celtic, said he was unsure where he would be playing next season.

“There has been a little bit of chat but nothing concrete yet. I’m sure in the next couple of months the conversations will start to ramp up, and we’ll see where it goes from there.” he said.

“My only thought is to play, play well and put myself out there and have better options to consider at the end of this season.”

Originally published as Melbourne City winger Marco Tilio keen for Socceroos recall after tough injury battle