Tom Rogic scored two goals as Australia beat Bangladesh 5-0 in Perth in their opening tie of the World Cup 2018 campaign.
While 2014 was a nightmare for the midfielder as he missed the World Cup through injury 2015 looks like the year in which he starts to realise his potential.
Two goals in Celtic’s opening SPFL matches have caught the eye with his overall play providing some options for Ronny Deila to work with.
After breaking down on the eve of the World Cup in Brazil Rogic was back in international football as coach Ange Postecoglou sets off on the road to Russia.
Rogic scored in the eighth and 20th minutes with the Socceroos website describing the goals as: “Two minutes later and it was 2-0, this time Tarek Elrich got to the byline and centered to Rogic at the top of the box, the classy playmaker taking one touch to control before lashing a shot past Sahidul Alam.
“Even with every player behind the ball, Bangladesh simply couldn’t contain the home side’s pace and movement as they carved out chances at will.
“Rogic had his second on 20 minutes after another flowing move, his first-time strike from Jason Davidson’s cross going in by the aid of a big deflection.”
With Rogic taking the place of Tim Cahill Postecoglu was delighted by the display of the Celtic midfielder.
The Australian coach said: “It was great for Tommy, I am sure he was a little bit nervous today playing again for his country and there’s always huge expectations on him … I thought he handled himself really well.
“With Cahill we just felt that we wanted to be really mobile tonight and get at them early on. Timmy came on and he was like a bull at the gate, ready to go. We have got him for the second game [against Tajikistan on Tuesday in Dushanbe] now which is good for us.”
Before facing Aberdeen in nine days time Rogic must visit Taikistan for Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier.