Sydney FC striker Saso Petrovski has admitted the pressure is on Australia's defence as they prepare for their World Cup qualifiers against the Solomon Islands in Sydney and Honiara.
Petrovski earned a call-up to the national squad by new Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink after impressing in Sydney FC's A-League pre-season campaign, and the national team's training camp in the Netherlands last month.
The versatile striker exclusively told www.theworldgame.com.au at the Socceroos' public training session on Friday that it was an "honour" to be part of the squad.
"It's a great honour and a huge bonus to be involved at such a crucial stage of Australian football," Petrovski said.
The Sydney FC number 11 then revealed the focus at training had been on the team's defence, as coach Hiddink aims to plug the holes and end the lapses which cost Australia many goals in their failed Confederations Cup campaign.
"Training with the boys in the Netherlands camp, and training here (in Sydney) has been at a very high level of intensity," he said.
"We've done a lot of positional work, working on different things like disciplining the defence."
"There's a lot of pressure on the defence to stay very tight and not concede too many goals."
"So much pressure and work has been put on our defenders that they should be able to cope this time."
Petrovski added that his selection, and that of Melbourne Victory’s Archie Thompson, proves the "importance" placed on the newly-formed A-League by the Socceroos’ coaching staff.
"It's proven with me being here not to just make up the numbers; I'm here because I’m a genuine contender to be pushing for a place, and playing for the national squad," he said.
"We need players like myself backing these guys (bigger names) up if anything goes wrong. If, God forbid, any of the boys get injuries, you definitely need the depth."
"That's where players like myself come in and show what we're about, and hopefully put the pressure on them for a starting spot," he added, before admitting he hoped to "get a run" in the Honiara leg of the qualifiers providing Australia meets expectations and score a big win over the Solomon Islands in the first leg at Aussie Stadium on Saturday night.
"Hopefully the boys will get a good result first game, and in the second game we can be a lot more relaxed, and that's when he (Hiddink) can make a few changes and give a lot of people a run."
Australia's starting XI 1 Mark Schwarzer, 2 Lucas Neill, 5 Tony Vidmar, 6 Tony Popovic, 7 Brett Emerton, 8 Josip Skoko, 9 Mark Viduka (c), 10 Tim Cahill, 12 Scott Chipperfield, 15 John Aloisi, 19 Jason Culina.
Substitutes: 11. Stan Lazaridis, 13. Vince Grella, 14. Archie Thompson, 17. Jon McKain, 18. Zeljko Kalac, 22. Luke Wilkshire, 23. Mark Bresciano
Standby: 4. Michael Thwaite, 16. Saso Petrovski, 21.
