Keeper has inside knowledge
Stefan Marinovic has been trying to get into the opposition’s head.
The All Whites goalkeeper is in the unique situation where he plays for the same club as Peru forward Yordy Reyna.
Although he initially missed the cut, the 24-year-old forward was brought into the squad as the replacement for Peru captain Paolo Guerrero, who has been suspended for 30 days after failing a doping test.
Marinovic said the Vancouver Whitecaps team-mates chat regularly away from the training pitch but, as he does not speak Spanish and Reyna does not speak English, they have been forced to converse in German, having spent much of their football careers in Germany and Austria before transferring to Canada.
Although Marinovic was reluctant to reveal what exactly he said to his team-mate, saying ‘‘that stays between me and him’’, he did admit that he has been trying to get in Reyna’s head ahead of Saturday’s World Cup qualifier in Wellington.
‘‘That’s what I’ve been trying to do anyway, at least at the club. You can’t just ignore it. It’s there. The lads joke about it. The Costa Ricans we have in the team, they were also joking about it,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s a situation I’m not used to and haven’t been involved in yet, coming up against a team-mate in such an important game.’’
With just six caps to his name, Reyna is not expected to start against the All Whites but Marinovic said he was a technically skillful player and one they will have to be wary of.
‘‘The likes the ball at his feet and likes to run at players. He’s not afraid in the attacking sense. I know for Peru he’s probably not an exact replacement for the No 9 but he’s a good player.
‘‘But you’d expect a team with that ranking to have good players, so there’s no surprises there.’’
Marinovic has been one of the individual success stories during Anthony Hudson’s tenure as All Whites coach.
Not only is the 26-year-old now firmly cemented as the team’s No 1 goalkeeper, but he has been able to translate that form for his club too, emerging as the first-choice shotstopper with the Whitecaps.
‘‘It’s been good fun. I’ve really enjoyed the move,’’ Marinovic said.
‘‘I wasn’t really expecting that much game time right off the bat but the coach showed faith in me and I’ve had some good games so it’s been enjoyable so far.’’
Vancouver’s Major League Soccer season came to a halt on Thursday when they were beaten 2-0 by Seattle Sounders in the second leg of the Western Conference semifinals. But Marinovic said that disappointment was not fuelling him ahead of Saturday’s game.
‘‘I don’t think club football for me changes anything when it comes to the national stage.
‘‘I mean, yeah, we got knocked out of the playoffs but the club’s goal was to get into the playoffs and we won our first game in the playoffs so the club, to an extent, was happy.
‘‘But there’s club football and there’s international football, and they’re two different beasts. You walk out with the fern on your chest and you play with your heart, no matter what happened at my club last week.’’