The Saints go marching Down Under – with one stuck in the cheap seats
St Mirren’s Antipodean stars – Ryan Strain, Keanu Baccus and Alex Grieve – will be united against Celtic today, before going very much their own way during the international break.
The trio have all been called up for an Australia-New Zealand double-header, with the countries meeting in Brisbane on Thursday before a return match in Auckland three days later.
While for Strain and Baccus it will be an opportunity to try to win places in the Aussies’ World Cup squad, in Kiwi Grieve’s case, thoughts of what might have been will be tough to ignore.
Less than 24 hours after the Socceroos sealed their place in Qatar with a dramatic win over Peru, New Zealand lost their qualifier in controversial circumstances to Costa Rica.
And, as Strain revealed, their contrasting fates have already been having an impact.
“Alex played against Costa Rica, and has kept his place in the squad. So we will all be flying over for the games together,” he said.
“But we have been a laugh about it because apparently we’re flying business class, while he’s in economy!
“So we will be sending him a few Snapchats to let him know what he is missing out on.
“You never know, maybe I will be kind and share my seat with him.
“It should be a great trip, and I am buzzing about it.”
Chiefly because of the pledge from Australia head coach, Graham Arnold, that every single player in the 31-man squad has a shot at booking their place for the World Cup.
“It is what you dream about when you start playing football,” said the defender, who was called up for the qualifiers against China and Vietnam last year, only to miss out through injury.
“That is the biggest stage you can be on. There is the Champions League, but
I think the World Cup tops that.
“They’ve said: ‘You’ve got your chance. Just try to take it.’.
“From what I’ve heard, everyone will get game time, so it is a case of grabbing your chance.
“It would be unbelievable to be involved in Qatar, something I would not have believed would have been possible a year ago.
“Back then, I’d had a few injuries at Maccabi Haifa, and I thought my chance had gone.
“Now I’ve come here, and they have given me a shot. I just have to keep trying to improve on my form.”
To be fair, as the 25-year-old explained, his involvement is more by design than accident.
“One of the reasons behind my decision to come here in the summer was knowing I was going to be watched by the national scouts,” he said.
“You have 13 Australians now playing in the league, and the country’s former coach, Ange Postecogolou, in charge at Celtic.
“So I know there are a lot of people coming to watch Australians in the Scottish league.”
Strain has extra motivation for doing well in today’s game against Celtic.
He is the grandson of Gerry Baker, who scored in the famous 4-0 win over the Hoops in the 1959 Scottish Cup semifinal, the year Saints went on to win the Cup by beating Aberdeen in the Final.
“It would be a dream for me to score against Celtic because I haven’t got a goal yet,” said Strain.
“I know he’ll be looking down, very proud of me.
“I was aware of the heritage I have here. It was another reason why I signed for the club.
“My granddad played about 80 games for St Mirren and scored 60 goals, something ridiculous like that.
“He did very well here. If I do half as well, I’ll be happy.”