Sam Wants Viduka To Call Time On Australia

Last updated : 25 August 2007 By Footy Mad - Editor


And Allardyce is hopeful the former Leeds and Celtic man will ask national coach Graham Arnold to excuse him from next month's friendly clash with Argentina in Melbourne to allow him to get the rest he needs.

Allardyce: "There is an international window coming up and I think he should take the opportunity to ask his coach if he can take a break, because it would be much more beneficial to us and much more beneficial to Australia in the long run.

"There are a lot of selfish people in the game who do not think beyond the next game, when really what you have got to think about is the whole season.

"Somebody like Mark Viduka at the moment needs to recharge his batteries and if he got that opportunity in the next international window, that could be of big benefit to us and to Australia in the long run.

"He has had a long summer. He played in some international games at the end of the season and then the Asian Cup right the way up to the back end of June.

"We only gave him really a week's rest after that. We are using him sparingly in the Premier League matches because of the huge amount of football he has played, not just throughout the summer, but throughout the whole of the season for Middlesbrough.

"He has not had the opportunity to recharge his batteries as much as everybody else, so that's why we are bringing him off as the games go by.

"If you want to get off the mark for your new club, there could not be a better place to do it than going to your old club. On many occasions, it seems to happen that way, so I certainly hope that's the case on Sunday.

"But the goal must be a winning goal, it must not be a goal that means nothing. It must mean a lot to not just him, but to us.

"It must get us something out of the game."