Who is Jon McKain
His coach says Pim Verbeek should be looking at him for a Socceroos recall, but he’s a relatively unknown player.
After Wellington put in an impressive performance in round 13 to beat competition front-runners Melbourne Victory, Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert was full of praise for his team. However, the coach singled out two names in particular that he felt deserved a call up to the Socceroos to join the illustrious names of Kewell, Cahill, Schwarzer et al.
One was Andrew Durante, the former Newcastle Jets premiership winner from the 2007/08 season, but the other was a new recruit: Jon McKain.
Plucked from a Romanian club, the Queenslander has been instrumental in Phoenix-s reviving fortunes, but in the AFW office we just didn-t know anything about him. A trawl through the internet didn-t yield many results so we spoke to the man of the moment and asked him 10 questions to find out a little more about the player Herbert is touting for a Socceroos call up.
1. What was it like to have Ricki Herbert publicly say you should be called up to the Socceroos? A. Flattered, it would an honour to represent my country. B. I tend to agree, I think I-m ready for it. C. Now the pressure-s on to back up my performances.
“It-s been since 2006 that I had my last cap with Frank (Farina, former Socceroos coach) and I-ve always wanted to get back in some day. I-m always ready to have another crack at the Socceroos. Ricki-s been pushing me hard this season and I know Ricki, he-s an honest guy, and in the last few weeks we-ve had some good performances and he-s probably singled out me and Dura who could potentially go on and represent our country - it-s surprising but it-s also flattering.”
2. I think my chances of making the Socceroos squad are… A. Pretty good. B. Not a chance. C. I might have to wait for my chance.
“To be honest, I haven-t thought about it that much. Obviously Ricki said that in an interview recently, and making the Socceroos again is in the back of my mind, but at the moment it-s all about getting my performances to be consistent and the last few weeks have been good so there-s no reason why (I can-t make it), but it-s not up to me you know? I-ve still got to improve and that-s what it-s all about.”
3. What did you take most from your time in Romania? A. They play a different style of game, it was a good learning experience. B. It was good, but I was happy to return to the A-League. C. I wasn-t keen on tripe soup.
“It-s a very technical league and it-s not as physical as the A-League, it-s quite quick and very tactical. There-s four or five really good teams in the league, whereas everyone-s pretty similar in the A-League. I-ve become a lot better as a player; I can read the game a lot better and I-ve become a lot better with my passing from both feet and it-s everything really: my awareness has improved.“
4. What drew you most to Wellington Phoenix? A. I was looking forward to working with Ricki Herbert. B. I was overseas and just wanted to get in on the A-League action. C. I thought coming back would be good for my Socceroos- chances.
“I wasn-t enjoying my football at the time and I wanted to come back. I knew the league and I knew a lot of people here and I wanted to come back and enjoy my football again and that was the main reason I came back: to enjoy my football again. The quality-s improved a lot over here and I-ve got a young family as well and that was another reason to come back - I just wanted to play. I was excited to come back and the club is growing and it can only go one way.”
5. Reason for the turnaround in Wellington-s season is? A. Still a young club and took time for new players to gel. B. We-ve lacked self belief which we now have. C. We-ve surprised other teams and ourselves.
“We had, and we-ve still got, a good team. It-s just a matter of getting on a run for three or four games in a row and collect some results and you-re in with a shot. We got on a decent run in the middle of the season and hopefully we can go on another run because if we win four games (out of the last seven) that should mathematically be enough to get us in the four.”
6. Will Phoenix make the top four? A. It-s 50/50. B. Without a doubt. C. If we can at least come close that-ll be an achievement. [McKain asks for an additional option, which we grant: D. Nothing-s certain, but we-ll be disappointed if we don-t make it.]
“If we don-t make the four, it-ll be disappointing because we wouldn-t have reached our goals this year, which was to make the four. If we finish fifth we wouldn-t have reached our goals. It-s not a certainty, because nothing is certain, but we-ll be disappointed to not reach the four.”
7. So far, my form this season has been… A. Not bad, I want to do more. B. Really good, I-ve surprised even myself. C. I-ve still got a lot of work to do.
“I wasn-t too bad at the start of the season, but I was carrying a bit of an injury and I didn-t feel too bad, but as a team we started to win a few games in a row. We-ve changed things around a bit and I-m now playing in midfield and we-ve got a more stable backline and midfield now and we-re now a team that-s tough to beat. Early on in the season we were quite easy to beat, now we-ve become a team that-s quite difficult to beat, which is always a tough thing to do.”
8. The best thing about living in Wellington is… A. It-s completely different to Queensland. B. It-s completely different to Romania. C. It-s completely different to anywhere I-ve been.
“The wind is unbelievable! It-s a really nice and beautiful city, but it is hard to describe just how windy it is. It-s tough at training when the wind-s going and the balls are going all over the place.”
9. My teammates would you describe me as… A. The joker in the pack. B. A hard working, fair dinkum player. C. One of the lads.
“I do a prank, but it-s not one of my better things. I love having a laugh with the boys and enjoying ourselves, but there are a few other boys that are the instigators.”
10. Next season I will be… A. Playing overseas. B. Lifting the A-League trophy. C. Putting in good performances for Phoenix and on my way to the World Cup with the Socceroos.
“Who knows mate? Ideal would be a combination of these two. I-ve got to finish this year and then I-ve got to sit down and see if I want to go back overseas and if I-m good enough and if there any opportunities to do so. I-ve got another year on my contract, so it depends on a few things - I-d like to just see at the end of the year how I-m going and if I might go overseas, but if not I will keep trying to improve in the Phoenix squad. Obviously, it (playing for the Socceroos) is in the back of my mind and it would be fantastic, but I think I-m a long way off that yet. I want to do well at Phoenix and see what happens, if it does happen I-ll be over the moon.”