At just 25 and with only 17 caps to his name, Matthew Spiranovic will be one of Ange’s senior Socceroos

WITH just 17 caps to his name, it seems crazy Matthew Spiranovic will be one of Ange Postecoglou’s senior Socceroos in Brazil.

HE may be just 25-years-old, but Matthew Spiranovic is one of the most experienced players in Ange Postecoglou’s youthful Socceroos squad and seems certain to take on some sort of leadership role in the team.

The Western Sydney Wanderers defender arrived in camp on Sunday after undoing surgery to repair a broken finger suffered in the Asian Champions League.

Spiranovic impressed in his first season under Tony Popovic at the Wanderers and earned a recall to the national side for the recent friendly match against Ecuador.

The versatile player, who was deployed in the midfield as well as at the back this season, is a shoo-in for a spot in Brazil as Postecoglou looks to rebuild the team.

“It’s great to be versatile,” Spiranovic said.

“It’s always nice for a coach to have a player than can play in a number of positions and this year I was fortunate enough to play in midfield a few times and it was a great challenge that I enjoyed.

“It’s a relatively young squad and I feel like I have been part of the squad for a number of years now, but in saying that I think the squad still has a lot of leaders in there. But if that means I have to take up some sort of leadership role I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Overseas clubs showed interest in signing him, but instead of waiting until after the World Cup to secure his future Spiranovic opted to sign a two-year contract at the Wanderers.

He made the decision for football reasons, but admits he still harbours hopes of playing overseas in the future.

“The season gone has been a fantastic year,” Spiranovic said.

“It’s been great to contribute to the club’s success on the back of their first year and it was just the right fit for me. In light of the World Cup coming up and the Asian Cup on our doorstep in January I just think it was the right move. “But in saying that I still have ambitions to be playing overseas.

“Joining the Wanderers was about trying to get back to full fitness and playing regular football and I think I managed to do that this year. Now my focus turns to this challenge, of playing in a World Cup and contributing to this team’s success, and hopefully I can be part of that.”

Spiranovic has a key part to play in Brazil.

Spiranovic will be tasked with keeping out the star-studded attacks of Spain, Holland and Chile at the World Cup, but he doesn’t expect Postecoglou to change his football philosophy just because of the quality of the opposition.

“Knowing Ange and the way he wants us to play, he’s not one to take a backwards step,” Spiranovic said.

“He plays a very attacking style and hopefully we can take it to the opposition.

“We have to believe. We’re going over there to try and win and we’ll be doing everything possible to try and give ourselves the best chance of that.”

Originally published as At just 25 and with only 17 caps to his name, Matthew Spiranovic will be one of Ange’s senior Socceroos