Mark Schwarzer is Australia’s goalkeeper and Middlesbrough’s goalkeeper as well and, let me tell you, he is a great goalkeeper. He played in the Uefa semi-final against Steaua Bucharest and I was not happy at all with his play.

He absolutely closed the goal, receving only 1 goal in 90 minutes and having me almost throw the TV out. Well, he seems that he did the same to Marco van Basten, Holland’s coach.

He twice denied the Dutch scoring opportunities when he turned away close-range efforts from both Mark van Bommel and Wesley Sneijder. And again right at the start of the second period the Sydney-born keeper - who was hugely influential in Middlesbrough’s run to this year’s UEFA Cup final - had to be on his toes to deny no fewer than three Dutch strikers.

The Netherlands friendly was not the first time Schwarzer had been the hero for the Socceroos. Last November, Hiddink opted to keep him on the pitch in the place of penalty specialist ‘Spider’ Kalac as a shoot-out loomed in the play-off second leg against Uruguay. It proved the right decision as Schwarzer, in his own words, got into the “zone” to save from Dario Rodriguez and Marcelo Zalayeta and help send Australia back to the FIFA World Cup finals for the first time in over 30 years.

All of Australia will surely be hoping for similar heroics from Schwarzer on 12 June - presuming, of course, that he gets the nod to start against the Japanese on his old Kaiserslautern stomping ground.

Source: WCoffsite