Too few Socceroos in top tier: Emerton

SOCCEROOS great Brett Emerton fears the current Australian squad won’t reach its potential unless more players are plying their trade at premier leagues.

Australia boasts two English Premier League starters in Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield Town) and Mat Ryan (Brighton), while Mathew Leckie (Hertha Berlin) plays in the Bundesliga and Tom Rogic is at Scottish champions Celtic.

Mooy and Ryan are only three games each into their EPL journeys. By contrast, 95times-capped Emerton was part of a 2006 World Cup squad brimming with topflight experience.

He played almost 250 times for Blackburn in England’s top tier, while Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Tim Cahill, Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill (EPL), Marco Bresciano and Vince Grella (Serie A), John Aloisi (La Liga) and Jason Culina (Eredivisie) were regulars in Europe’s best competitions.

“That’s something that needs to improve,” Emerton told reporters yesterday.

“At club level, those players just need to try and play more regularly for their clubs and play for bigger clubs against better opposition.

“(But) it’s not easy. Football’s a world game. There are millions of players vying for a small amount of positions.”

The Socceroos face an almighty task to reach their fourth-straight World Cup after finishing third in their Asian qualification group.

They must progress past Syria next month in a two-leg playoff before a final hurdle against fourth-placed CONCACAF in November.

Emerton backed Ange Postecoglou as the man to take Australia to Russia 2018 and called for patience.