Socceroo players miss pre-season for Australia

Graham Arnold asks for understanding

Socceroo players will miss pre-season training with their clubs to play for Australia.

Speaking by teleconference today, Arnold said, "Asian league's all have a mid-season break. Apart from a couple of Japanese or Korean players in Europe the rest are all in Asian leagues. We have a lot of players in Europe and they all miss their clubs pre-season. They are very committed to playing to Australia, and this shows their commitment."

Fair point Arnie.

Take Mark Viduka, about to play for Newcastle. He will miss most of their pre-season.

If you were paying an employee a rumoured $400,000 a week, you'd want him there for the pre-season period.

Or Harry Kewell. He missed all of last season after playing at the World Cup.

Not easy for the players, but the turn-out for the Asia Cup is very impressive.