After being called up to the Subway Socceroos for the first time in over a year, Milos Degenek has spoken about why it means more than ever, on his relationship with Mile Jedinak and more ahead of Australia’s clash with Bahrain on Wednesday morning.
Degenek, currently at Red Star Belgrade in Serbia, may not have featured against Saudi Arabia, but is relishing his leadership role within the squad as he strives for game time against Bahrain and beyond.
Here’s what he had to say when he faced the media earlier today.
On returning from injury to make the squad
I think it was one of the main motivations for me, was the fact that I could be part of something special again. Because for me, obviously club football is the football that pays your bills and puts a roof on your head, but this is the football that you try to give back to people that have helped you in life. I'm the happiest when I'm here. And that's not me over-exaggerating, I think it's more me being really honest. I'm just so happy, man. Every part of the day, I have a laugh. I'm very happy, I'm very positive. And for me, when I was going through a hard time being injured, I've got something to look forward to, and I've got hopefully a World Cup in a year-and-a-half's time to look forward to. And that was something driving me. It was driving me crazy that I couldn't get fit quick enough but what was positive for me was that I've got time, and I want to be fit and healthy, and when I do come into camp, I want to be ready to show what I can offer.
On why this call-up means more than ever
I get goosebumps now, because I was injured for a year and a bit, I haven't played football for a while. It means more than ever because I'm getting older, I'm not getting younger, and there's a lot of younger boys around here. And it means more than ever because I'd like to be someone here in the Socceroos that these younger boys can look up to.
I want them to have someone that they can approach whenever they need to approach someone to talk about anything they need to talk about, whether it's help in the football world, whether it's help in general life. I want them to have someone they can reach out to. Because I know when I was coming in, I had Mile Jedinak, for example, who, even to this day, I reach out to every time I need something. Not in terms of needing something to help me out with something, but whether it's a piece of advice, whether it's just a message or a call, and I want them to have that in me. And it means more than ever to me, because I'd love to be able to go to a third World Cup.
I think that's something very special, and not many players have done that. And I think this group of boys is very special, not just the boys, but I think the staff, and the fact that everything's new now, it means more than ever to me, because it's kind of a start, it's kind of a new beginning. I feel like coming into this camp, I feel like it's my first camp, as it was under Ange [Postecoglou] back in England almost 10 years ago.
On Australia's start to qualifying
Obviously we haven't made the best possible start. I guess it's disappointing, but it's not that disappointing that you know you're going to be negative and you're going to dwell on the fact that we haven't made a good start. You can't have an impact on what happened before - four months, five months, you know, you can have an impact on what's going to happen on Tuesday and what's going to happen in March and in June. You can have an impact on that, and you have to be positive. And for me, it's about getting the boys to know that it's all in our hands. We don't have to rely on someone else getting results for us if we win every game from now until June, we go to a World Cup, and everyone's happy.
On the Saudi game
It wasn’t the result we wanted. I thought we, not just me, I think in general, we all thought we should have won the game. We had many chances where we should have killed the game off. I think the whole 90 minutes, we never looked in danger of losing the game, which is a very positive thing. This is the third qualifying cycle I've had and I've been in very similar situations. But I don't think the boys really have that down-and-out kind of mentality. I thought the boys were actually quite well situated and positive and thought it's just another game, we've still got a lot of games to play. After the game, it's very difficult to talk to anyone, because everyone's still processing what happened, it takes a while to kind of sit down and talk. But the staff were really positive, saying 'guys, it's football; we didn't lose, we drew and we're still second in the group'. We’ve got a very important game in Bahrain, and we look forward to that. So I think it was a good environment to be in and the boys were very positive.
On life under Tony Popovic
It's been fantastic. It's totally different to what it was before. It's a massive plus for me, I enjoy it. The boys enjoy it, the staff's happy, everyone's happy. Training is really good. The boss is very organised, planned and focused and knows what he wants. And I think that helps us to know what's expected of us, and helps us get going every day.
On the Socceroos' new style
I don't think we're more defensive. I guess it's in the eyes of the viewer. You can look at it and think 'oh, we're playing the back five, we're more defensive'. But I see it as we're playing the back three and we're more offensive because our wing backs are higher. We have got two 10s who are going to try and score goals and create chances. I look at it the other way. For me, it's more like we're very offensive, but we're good defensively because our attackers are winning the ball in the right area, so the defenders don't have to do much. So for me, I think it's a totally different playing style that I enjoy and I'm sure that all the boys that are attackers are enjoying it at the moment, because they're getting a lot of balls, a lot of action. It's just a matter of us now being clinical, being deadly and being ruthless in front of goal and punishing teams like we should have against Saudi Arabia.
On his leadership abilities
I don't come into camp and have a written down speech, what I'm going to use before every game, or what I'm going to say. And the staff obviously don't come and approach me and say, 'oh, we want you to motivate the boys'. I think it's just kind of off the cuff. It's natural, yeah, you kind of either have that in you and it just flows off naturally in the change room after, before a game, before training.
For me, I'm just like that, you know, I've played football all over the world, and I've enjoyed my football the most when I've played for Australia. And that kind of brings out the best of emotions for me, and I'm the happiest when I'm here. I've played for Red Star, my childhood dream club. I've done everything there I could have done, but this, for me, is something different and special, and I enjoy it a lot more. And the fact that I can motivate someone like I did at the World Cup, which turned out to be a one-hit wonder and kind of went all over social media, and we won the game against Tunisia. Whether that helped the boys, I don't know. I wish it helped the boys, get them a little bit more motivated and pumped up.
But if that's my role in this team, I'm more than happy to do that, because that means I'm going to help the younger boys understand where they are and what it means to play for your country, and the boys that are new in it's going to help them understand as well, and it's going to help me be the person that I want to be, and that's who I am. I'm not going to change. I'm not going to act like I don't want to play. Obviously, I want to play every game. But if I don't play, I'm here for the boys, and I'm here to make them understand where they are.
On his relationship with Mile Jedinak
When I got selected 10 odd days ago, I got a long message from Mile, a voice message. I think it was a day or two after they played one of the games in the Premier League, and I got a message from him. He understands me as we come from a very similar background, and he understands what this means for me. He's just been someone that's been there for me through the hard times and the good times. And he just basically said to me, you've been away for a while, don't stress. Don't do too much. Don't try and express yourself too much and do everything perfectly. Just go and enjoy and be yourself. Because when you're yourself, everyone appreciates who you are, because you're so professional.
And as he says, I'm very professional. I'm very switched on. I'm someone that's always there and always doing his best, and he goes 'that will be enough for you to continue doing what you love'. So there's a lot of that, and there's a lot of other stuff that we talk about that's just probably between us. I appreciate him a lot, and I think he's the most valuable person that I've met in the world of football, and the person that I care about in a certain way the most about because, for me, I look at him as a big brother in the football world.
Next Match
Bahrain v Subway Socceroos
Tuesday 19 November 2024
Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa
Kick-off: 9.15pm local (5.15am AEDT – Wednesday, 20 November)
Broadcast: Paramount+