I’ll quit before I embarrass myself or my teammates, pledges Sydney FC star Milos Ninkovic
Sydney FC veteran Milos Ninkovic is still in vintage form, but he has no intention of pushing his luck.
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He’s the Sky Blues’ evergreen hero, but Milos Ninkovic can’t say how long his Sydney FC service will continue.
Ninkovic rolled back the years with an influential display last weekend as Sydney opened their title defence with a 3-2 win at Adelaide, beating three men to help set up his side’s second goal.
Sydney’s Serb is certain to start against Wellington Phoenix today but Ninkovic, who turns 35 on Christmas Day, is adamant he won’t “embarrass” himself — or his teammates — by playing on too long, and he aims to walk away well before he reaches that point.
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Ninkovic is off contract at the end of this season, his fifth at Sydney FC, where he has amassed 113 games, and is in no rush to commit any further forward — even though he has gained permanent residency after falling in love with Australia.
“I just don’t know,” Ninkovic said when asked if this might be his last campaign. “I feel good but when you get to my age, you never know what is going to happen.
“I said to Bimbi (head coach Steve Corica) and the club, as soon as I feel I can’t do something on the field, I don't want to embarrass myself or my teammates.
“At that point I will say that’s it, and go to play football with my friends.
“Maybe this year I will start some games on the bench, especially with the Asian Champions League. Maybe we will try something different.
“It’s a good question, how long I will play, but to be honest, right now I don’t have the answer.”
Ninkovic admitted the A-League’s crushingly long pre-season weighed heavily upon him, especially after Sydney were knocked out of the FFA Cup by Brisbane in August.
“It’s hard to do such a long pre-season, not so much physically but mentally, training for three months,” he said.
“The last couple of years we’ve had FFA Cup matches (through to the final) and then you have competitive games — it’s much easier — but this year we got knocked out early.
“It’s hard to just play friendly games and train for that long. The most important thing, though, is that everyone is healthy and ready to go for this season.
“For the moment I feel good and I want to play for as long as I can, of course.”
Ninkovic is already one of the Sky Blues’ most decorated servants, with two title wins, a Johnny Warren Medal and multiple player of the year awards. He admits the A-League title field is wide open as Sydney seek to retain the crown they won in May in Perth.
“It's very hard (to win it again) — you remember we won the league (in 2016-17) but lost it the next season with what was maybe a better squad,” he said.
“We lost in the semi-final, and this year will be very interesting. There are three or four teams who are very good and could win the trophy.”
Originally published as I’ll quit before I embarrass myself or my teammates, pledges Sydney FC star Milos Ninkovic
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