Mile Jedinak’s Socceroo career over

The Socceroos will have a new captain after Mile Jedinak announced he is retiring from international football.

Mile Jedinak celebrates scoring from the penalty spot against Denmark in this year’s World Cup.

The Socceroos will have a new captain after Mile Jedinak announced he is retiring from international football.

Jedinak, 34, confirmed he was stepping down late on Monday afternoon via his Instagram account, declaring he came up with the decision after having given it “much deliberation”.

He said he made the move in a bid to prolong his club career in England, where he plays for English championship club Aston Villa.

“After a huge amount of time reflecting and discussing with those closest with me, I feel that it is the right time to move aside in order to focus on my club football and prolonging that journey,” Jedinak posted.

“As a young boy growing up it was my dream to play for Australia and to pull on the famous green and gold shirt to represent my country.

“To have been given the opportunity to not only fulfil that dream, but to have done it 79 times, and many of which as captain, makes me incredibly proud and thankful.

“It is an enormous privilege to represent your country and one I did not take lightly. Words will never be able to do justice the feeling of immense pride I felt when representing Australia.

“I gave everything I had in every single game I played to try and achieve success for our nation.”

Jedinak will go down as one of the true warriors of Australian soccer. He may not have been the type of player who got fans out of their seat because of his skill and elegance in midfield, but he more than made up for it with his fierce will to win, determination and leadership.

Those qualities have endeared him to the Australian soccer community as well as to the fans of the clubs he has played for in Europe over the past decade. He captained Crystal Palace in the English Premier League before moving to Villa in August 2016.

His decision comes just 48 hours before new Socceroos coach Graham Arnold is due to announce his first squad for a friendly against Kuwait in Kuwait City on October 15 and a little less than three months after captaining his country at the World Cup finals in Russia.

It also means he won’t get the chance to lead the Socceroos in their defence of the Asian Cup in January. Jedinak played a huge role in Australia winning that tournament for the first time.

Jedinak played 79 games for the national team and scored 20 goals. Dutchman Pim Verbeek gave him his first full international debut against Singapore in early 2008.

Jedinak, whose striking, long black beard became a trademark of his over the past couple of years, reflected on his career, saying he will have memories “that will last a life-time”.

“Looking back, I feel blessed to be able to leave with memories that will last a lifetime,’’ he said.

“The feeling of captaining our country to Asian Cup glory in 2015, and to have been able to contribute to achieving success for Australia, will stay with me forever. Additionally being able to captain the team, and score, in two World Cups is something I could only have dreamed about as a boy. There are just too many highlights to mention them all.”

Jedinak’s retirement will leave the door open for Trent Sainsbury to assume the captaincy.

Previous Socceroos coach Bert van Marwijk handed the Dutch-based defender the skipper’s arm band in Jedinak’s absence for a World Cup warm-up against the Czech Republic in June.

It is uncertain whether Jedinak will be given a chance to farewell Australian fans.

He would certainly deserve to be given the same opportunity as Tim Cahill, who will be farewelled with a cameo against Lebanon in a friendly at ANZ Stadium on November 20.