Fresh from international duty and raring to go, Melbourne Heart FC right-back Michael Marrone says he is better for the experience after his stint in the successful qualification campaign for the 2013 East Asian Cup Finals.
Fresh from international duty and raring to go, Melbourne Heart FC right-back Michael Marrone says he is better for the experience after his stint in the successful qualification campaign for the 2013 East Asian Cup Finals..
Marrone secured his first full international cap in Australia-s 9-0 rout over Guam and even managed to net his first international goal in the process.
However, yesterday Heart’s No. 2 made it clear that he keen to continue his consistence Club form in the search for more Socceroos appearances.
“It-s good to be back, we were away for a long time,” Marrone said.
“It was good to get an opportunity and get the first cap out of the way, and then to cap it off with a goal…but I-m definitely looking for more opportunities to play for Australia.”
Socceroos Head Coach Holger Osieck fielded a predominantly Hyundai A-League based squad for the qualifying competition in Hong Kong with only four internationally-based players called to the squad.
“The A-League is always getting stronger,” Marrone said.
“With the quality of imports that have come in, there-s a lot more competition for places.”
“The squad that was picked for this tournament, there was a lot of experience in there with guys like Richard Garcia, Brett Emerton and Matt McKay…to have that sort of experience mixed in with a few new boys certainly helps.”
Having recovered from his call-up to national duty, Marrone is now setting his sights firmly on Friday night-s clash against the table-topping Central Coast Mariners.
“They-re a very strong side, we-re going to have to play to the best of our ability to get a result up there but we-re very much looking forward to it.” Marrone said.
“As far as myself is concerned I feel pretty fresh. I played the game on Friday and since then I haven-t done a lot”
