Aaron Mooy turnd his back on a £200,000/month deal in China to chase his World Cup dream.
A year ago the midfielder was stuck in China, separated from his family and unable to play international football due to the quarantine regulations of returning to China from overseas.
Australia’s laboured World Cup campaign saw them finish third in their group behind automatic qualifiers Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Two play-off ties were required to reach Qatar with boss Graham Arnold short on options with his job on the line if he failed to deliver the windfall of a place in the World Cup Finals.
Mooy played his last match for Shanghai Port on January 9 then played two international friendlies later that month before resurfacing in June for a friendly with Jordan before turning in two performances against UAE and Peru that took Australia back onto the World Cup stage.
Profiling Mooy, the Sydney Morning Herald reports:
Arnold arranged for Australia’s strength and conditioning coach, Andrew Clark, to meet Mooy in Glasgow for a one-on-one training camp – almost a mini pre-season, to physically and mentally prepare him for the most important games of his life. It cost Mooy about $350,000 in lost wages.
“The Chinese just didn’t pay him while he was with us,” Arnold says.
It was worth every cent. The thought of what Mooy did next still floors Arnold. If Andrew Redmayne, the “Grey Wiggle”, was the face of Australia’s miraculous triumph over Peru, Mooy was the backbone. And the lungs. And the nervous system.
Coaxed back from the brink of retirement, the 32-year-old produced arguably the two finest performances of his international career: 90 minutes in their win over the UAE and then 120 minutes against Peru, capped off with a penalty in the shoot-out that took them to the World Cup.
If that’s what he produced with zero match fitness, then it might be worth getting excited about what he can do for the Soccer after five impressive months at Celtic under former Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou. He’ll be the first name on Arnold’s team sheet in Qatar at the base of the midfield and the get-out-of-jail card for any teammates under pressure in possession.
If it hadn’t been for Australia reaching the World Cup Finals Mooy may not have joined Celtic in July. Getting fit for Qatar has been mutually beneficial with Postecoglou getting a quality player on his doorstep capable of playing a key role through a hectic run of fixtures.
Australia play France on Tuesday with the only downside for Mooy being the inclusion of crazy funster Jason Cummings in the 26 man squad.
CLICK HERE for a great profile of Mooy.
Perhaps one of the main advantages which we got with Ange was that he has the eye for a bargain. Mooy is a very good example! Ange gave him a berth, trained him up and now he’ll come back to us, with a World Cup under his belt! While Gio insists he needs millions to compete, Ange competes by making those kind of players himself – for next to no cost! Two polar different mind-sets. Ange is a genius really and it is he who has singularlythe transformed our Club after the last managerial incumbent. Ange knows the true value of money. That is what makes him a stand-out!
Have ye’s got that?!
Some people don’t fail. Ever!