Melbourne Heart FC star signing Michael Beauchamp says he is excited by the prospect of lining up against World Cup Socceroo team mate in the Club’s pre-season clash with Everton FC.
Melbourne Heart FC star signing Michael Beauchamp says he is excited by the prospect of lining up against World Cup Socceroo team mate in the Club-s pre-season clash with Everton FC.
A two-time World Cup Socceroo, Beauchamp has defended against Cahill during Australian training camps countless times over the past four years, but has yet to face his sometime team mate in a competitive match.
Beauchamp said he is eagerly anticipating the encounter, which will form a critical element of Heart-s pre-season campaign.
“I have trained against Tim plenty of times, but even at training, he is a very tricky character,” he said.
“He-s a great quality player, but we are looking at the game as a whole team and taking another step forward towards the first game against the Central Coast Mariners.”
Beauchamp believes Heart-s brigade of Young Socceroos will be one of the prime beneficiaries of the Everton match, providing them with a sample of the intensity of football at the elite level.
“To go out there and have the experience, especially for these young boys, it’s going to be a great experience for them,” he said.
“It’s definitely something we can take into the (season), we have this game and another game after that, so there’s not many games to get together and have the full squad. It’s another stepping stone.”
The former Nurnberg defender arrived in Melbourne on Monday to kick-start his pre-season after spending the bulk of May and June in camp with the Socceroos.
And he says he is looking forward to the challenge of helping develop a new club throughout the upcoming season.
“It’s a good set-up here and we are really hoping to get a lot of support behind us throughout the season,” he said.
“There’s a lot of boys coming from different areas, a lot of young players coming through as well, so it’s going to be interesting, but there is a great bunch of boys here, I can already see, and I’ve played with most of them before, so I’m sure it won’t take that long to gel.”
