There’s an interesting profile of Mark Schwarzer from SBS as the Fulham goalkeeper edges closer to his hundredth cap for Australia.
Fitness permitting, Schwarzer should reach the international landmark after a friendly against Scotland at Easter Road in August and the Socceroos’ latest World Cup qualifier in Jordan the following month. Should Australia make it all the way to Brazil in 2014, Schwarzer will replace legendary Italian custodian Dino Zoff as the oldest goalkeeper to play in a World Cup finals.
Reflecting on a twenty-year career, which was celebrated when he was named Australia’s best ever goalkeeper at a Sydney ceremony last week, Schwarzer suggested that nutrition and a strict fitness regime have helped him maintain his consistently high performance levels well into his late thirties.
It’s all to do with the way you look after yourself, the way you train and live your life. I’ve also been fortunate with injuries over the years but by the same token I do a lot of work to prevent injuries. I also do a lot of good old hard work because I still have the desire to keep on playing as long as possible at the highest level.
It’s not difficult at all to keep my motivation going. For me if I find it difficult to get motivated to get up and go to football every day then I would definitely consider retiring. I still get very excited about playing games and going to training. I like training because I enjoy working out to keep fit. And I’m doing that then it makes it easy.
The 39 year-old admitted that he could never have envisaged embarking on a professional career with such longevity when he was sitting on the Australian bench waiting for a chance to make his international debut, which came abruptly when former number one Robert Zabica was sent off against Canada in 1993.
Not in my wildest dreams did I ever believe that I would be playing almost 20 years later and nudging 100 caps for my country. I don’t suppose anyone would imagine playing for that long. I think these things evolve as times goes by. A lot of things have to fall in your favour along the way and you need a lot of hard work and dedication.
You get a lot of ups and downs in your career and there are a lot of factors that dictate if you play that long or get that many caps. So I feel very privileged to have reached this stage of my career and I’m enjoying every moment of it. The last two years have been the most enjoyable in my life in football terms.
Schwarzer’s German heritage also meant that his goalkeeping heroes as a child were largely European ‘like Harald Schumacher to a degree and particularly Jean-Marie Pfaff and later Bodo Illgner’. As a consummate professional, it is no surprise that Schwarzer feels footballers should act as ambassadors for the game and to the children who dream of emulating them.
Behaviour is definitely an aspect of one’s career. But you get that (mix) in all walks of life. There are those who believe that they should act responsibly on and off the pitch while others choose to live their own lifestyle.
But it is true that there are always repercussions to your actions. As far as I’m concerned I’ve always set a standard that I’ve tried to follow on and off the field. And when you become a father it becomes even more important to you because you want to lead by example.
The article concludes with Schwarzer looking ahead towards Brazil – insisting that representing Australia in the World Cup ‘is a very realistic target but beyond that is too far for me’. Whether Martin Jol makes a change in the Fulham goal before then, given the promising performances of David Stockdale in recent seasons, will be another big decision for the Dutch coach.
