Celebrating David Zdrilic's best Socceroos moments on his birthday
Former Socceroos striker, David Zdrilic, turns 46 on Monday, so we've taken a look back at some of his finest moments in the green and gold.
After a breakthrough season in the NSL, Zdrilic was handed his Socceroos debut by Terry Venables against Norway in 1997 and went on to spend eight highly successful years representing the national team.
The former striker placed his name in Socceroos’ history by being the seventh highest scorer for the green and gold with an impressive 20 goals in 30 appearances.
Under the guidance of Frank Farina, Zdrilic became a Socceroos regular in 2000 and was a part of the squad which claimed the OFC Nations Cup in Tahiti that same year.
The ex-striker’s first goal for the green and gold arrived in that tournament after he scored a brace in the 17-0 win against the Cook Islands.
His best spell arrived in the World Cup qualifiers a year later, where he scored 12 goals in just the four appearances for Farina’s side.
One of those four matches will live long in the memories of football fans across Australia, with him and strike partner Archie Thompson scoring a combined total of 21 goals in their 31-0 thrashing of American Samoa.
Zdrilic got his name on the scoresheet on eight occasions, which was the most goals scored by a Socceroo in one game.
However, he's only second on the all-time list given Thompson notched a staggering 13 goals that evening.
"Scoring eight goals in an international fixture would normally earn you all the headlines for the next 20 years," Simon Hill said to Thompson in a recent video where they relived the match.
"He’s been forgotten because of you."
Thompson said there were no hard feelings and that he and Zdrilic, "still have a laugh about that match."
READ: Archie’s 135-year revelation: Another player scored 13 goals in one game!
More success followed for Zdrilic and the Socceroos in the 2001 Confederations Cup in South Korea/Japan, where the Socceroos finished a highly respectable third.
Aside from the group stage encounter against France, Zdrilic played a part in the other five fixtures and played the full 90 minutes in the shock 1-0 victory against Brazil in the third placed playoff.
A series of injuries ruled him out of selection in 2002/03 before he rounded off his contribution to the national team by playing a part in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.
The next logical step
Since he hung up his boots in 2010, Zdrilic has forged a highly successful career in coaching. He’s currently the assistant manager at Chicago Fire, however that position didn’t arrive without hard work and dedication.
After building up some coaching experience in the New South Wales NPL, he made the move to Europe and was part of the youth set up at Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig, prior to his move to the States.
