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AUSSIE hotshot Brett Emerton is gunning for glory and aiming to continue his glorious World Cup scoring streak as the Socceroos prepare to tackle Bahrain.
Emerton jumped into the top 10 scorers list in the Asian Zone qualifiers for the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa with four goals, thanks to his brace in a 4-0 drubbing of Qatar last month.
The star plays for Blackburn Rovers in the English Premiership and also hit the target twice against the same opponents in the previous qualifying round. He has scored 11 goals over the course of three preliminary competitions.
Australia will field a full-strength team against Bahrain and head coach Pim Verbeek wants more of the same. "We go into every game aiming for a win," he told GulfWeekly, "and we aim to put on a good show again!
"I expect the full team will be in Bahrain, barring injury. This is a Fifa World Cup qualifier, and Australia takes the game very seriously."
Emerton, who usually plays as a wide midfielder, has been known to play in central positions or at full back, but as his scoring record shows he enjoys venturing up the park for goal scoring opportunities.
Another hotshot Bahrain will have to look out for on Wednesday night is free-scoring midfielder Tim Cahill who after a spell out injured has returned to the Everton team with a vengeance. He scored the first goal by an Australian at a World Cup. And, in 2007, he also became the first Australian player to score at an Asian Cup match.
And Bahrain's defence which leaked three goals in the defeat at home against Japan must also deal with the threat of Celtic's Scott McDonald who is still glowing after scoring for the Scottish champions against mighty Manchester United in the Champions League.
The coach is confident his side has the quality that counts despite having few opportunities to gather his squad for training.
Verbeek said: "The team only gets together when there is a game on, as they live and play football all over the world, so there is little opportunity to train together."
As a player, he spent his entire playing career in the Netherlands mostly with Sparta Rotterdam and he also played with NAC Breda and Roda JC.
Verbeek was the assistant coach of the South Korea national football team under Guus Hiddink during the 2002 World Cup and also under Dick Advocaat during the 2006 World Cup.
The Korea Football Association signed Verbeek to a coaching contract on June 26, 2006 until 2008. He led Korea to a third-place finish at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, guaranteeing them an automatic berth in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup tournament. He resigned from coaching South Korea in July 2007 after the Asian Cup, saying he needed a break from coaching for approximately five months.
He was linked to coaching Australia after he said he would welcome another job in Asia and had previously been linked with the Socceroos coaching role in 2005. On December 6, 2007, it was announced that Verbeek had secured the position. In his first World Cup qualifier game as head coach, Verbeek led Australia to a clinical 3-0 win against Qatar at home.
During a post match interview which followed, Verbeek promised to sing the Australian national anthem live on television, on the condition that the Socceroos qualify for the 2010 World Cup.
But before he starts opening those vocal chords there is still a job to do in the Gulf. He said: "I have been to the Middle East many times and enjoy visiting. The people are very helpful. And, I have also been to Bahrain.
"The Qantas Socceroos and I are looking forward to playing in Bahrain. We look forward to an exciting and competitive match and hope to see as many people at the game as possible."
Bahrain will need passionate support from the home crowd, the same fighting spirit shown against Qatar and probably another inspired goalkeeping performance to tame the Socceroos to keep their own World Cup dream alive.
Our national soccer team coach Milan Macala was pleased with the resilience shown by his players as they overcame the first-half dismissal of Abdulla Marzooqi to hold Qatar to a 1-1 draw in the qualifier at Al Sadd Stadium.
Sebastian Soria put Qatar ahead after only five minutes but despite playing for more than half the match with only 10 men following Marzooqi's 36th-minute dismissal, the visitors grabbed a point when Abdulla Fatai levelled midway through the second-half.
"We prepared well for this game and despite playing with 10 men, I think we did really well," said the coach.
Macala was particularly pleased with goalkeeper Sayed Mohammed Jaafar, who kept his side in the match by stopping a penalty by Soria in the first-half.
The question is: will Macala be willing to sing the Bahraini national anthem live on Channel 55 if his side defies the odds, beats Australia and makes it to South Africa?
