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Wednesday, 10 February 2010

Australia News Archie: 'Pick Me, Pim'

ARCHIE Thompson is confident he made Pim Verbeek's whirlwind trip to Melbourne worthwhile and says he is desperate to be a part of the Australian World Cup qualifiers.

Socceroos coach Verbeek, who has been extremely busy this week ahead of the friendly against Ghana on Friday, was on hand to see Thompson's return from an eight-week layoff with a knee injury in Melbourne's AFC Champions League match against Chonburi at Telstra Dome

Thompson only came on for the final 30 minutes of the match but scored one goal and set-up another as Melbourne came from a goal down to win the match 3-1 and secure second spot in Group G.

The 29-year-old was clearly the most influential player in his short time on the pitch and he hopes that Verbeek gained a clear enough indication that he is ready to play a part in Australia's qualifiers over the next four weeks.

"Hopefully I can do enough this week, hopefully he's seen enough tonight that it warrants a selection for the upcoming qualifiers which I'm desperately hoping for," Thompson said.

Verbeek was also watching the performances of Danny Allsopp, Leigh Broxham and Rody Vargas, who are all part of the 24-man squad for the Ghana match. But of all the Victory players, it is Thompson who is most likely to feature in his plans for the qualifiers against Iraq (twice), Qatar and China.

Thompson spoke of his frustration with his knee injury, which saw him miss three ACL games and spend six weeks off the training track.

"It's been a frustrating last six to eight weeks for myself just watching the guys and not actually feeling a part of the Asian Champions League," he said.

"It was something I was looking forward to. It's great to be back, the medical staff have been really working hard, it's good to be back out there and finish the Champions League with a win."

Thompson said that while his knee was holding up to the strain on the training track, it was important to test it out in the intensity of a game. His next challenge is to recover the fitness he lost from missing so much training.

He added: "I was just happy to play again. I'm still nowhere near the fitness I'd like to be.

"Anyone who was offering a spare lung out there I would have taken it. To be out there again, and running about with the boys, it actually felt like I hadn't been out for eight weeks."

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