Viduka’s Back

Hello everyone. Sorry for the lack of activity on this blog lately, but the lull in Socceroos action has meant that there’s not much to write about. However, while activity in the Socceroos camp is slow, one man has been busy getting his career back on track, and that is of course Mark Viduka.

With injuries forcing him to have a stop start season so far, Dukes played his second game in a row in Newcastle’s 0-0 draw with Portsmouth overnight. Having only played seven games this year, Dukes has yet to score a goal, but if his performance last night was anything to go by, then it shouldn’t take too long before he cracks his duck.

The introduction of Toon royalty Alan Shearer into the manager hot seat was expected to shed new light on Duke’s opportunities, and the attacking mentality of the former England captain shined through with his deployment of three strikers last night. Dukes played his traditional role of target man, with the speed men Michael Owen and Oba Martins playing off the big Aussie.

This combination caused much concern for Pompey, who could count themselves lucky to get away with a point from St. James’ Park. The Toon played attacking football and had plenty of chances to take the lead. Dukes himself had a glorious chance after the break, but his tame effort went straight at David James. On the hour mark Dukes showed why Pim (and Guus) thinks so highly of him as a lone striker when he used his strength to hold off a challenge, before playing Owen through, only to have the England striker’s effort saved by the magnificent James.

Dukes was subbed not long after, and wasteful finishing and good goal keeping by James meant that the stalemate ensured. This result amazingly left Newcastle in relegation territory, three points adrift of Hull (remember them? After being fourth or fifth after round 10, I don’t think they’ve picked up a point since…). It’s hard to conceive that a club of Newcastle’s stature and finance – not to mention the talent they have on the roster – are slugging it out in a relegation dog fight.

Last night’s performance by the former Aussie skipper would surely put a smile on Pim’s face, as the Socceroos have still yet to find a striker to permanently replace Dukes since his last game for the Green and Gold back in 2007 in the Asian Cup. The likes of Scott McDonald, Josh Kennedy and Brett Holman have failed to make the #9 shirt their own, although Kennedy did score a bullet header against Uzbekistan recently. With World Cup qualification looming, Pim would do a lot worse than to talk Viduka into one last hurrah in South Africa next year.