FIFA World Cup™ Germany 2006 player's profile

For a big man, Australia striker Mark Viduka possesses a delicate touch and close control that many smaller strikers would love to possess and the Middlesbrough striker is the obvious candidate to lead the line for the Socceroos in only their second FIFA World Cup™ finals appearance.
The 6ft 2in striker of Croatian parentage began his career with hometown club Melbourne Knights, where he scored 18 goals in 22 matches before trying his luck in his ancestral home with Croatia Zagreb (formerly Dinamo Zagreb). In a prolific three-year stint in the Balkan country, he scored 40 goals in 84 league games and refined the skills and finishing ability that would come to define his days terrorising defenders in the Scottish and English top flights.

Viduka joined Celtic in 1998 and broke into the first team in 1999. He wasted no time making his mark as he was named Scottish Premier League Player of the Year in 1999/2000 after scoring 24 goals in his first full season.

His successes in Scotland earned him a £6 million move to the Premiership with Leeds United in the summer of 2000, the same year he was voted Oceania’s Player of the Year. He was part of the Leeds side that reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2001 and in the 2002/03 season managed 20 goals in the Premiership. As with his international team-mate Harry Kewell, however, Viduka was sold to help ease the club’s financial problems in 2004. He joined Middlesbrough where he has struggled to find form after suffering several different injuries.

Viduka won his first cap for Australia in 1994 and has amassed over 30 since then. During the qualifiers for Germany 2006, he took over the captain’s armband from the injured Craig Moore and coach Guus Hiddink has hailed him as a team leader.

Although he missed a penalty in the crucial shoot-out in the play-off victory over Uruguay, Viduka was praised for his all-round contribution. Steve McLaren, his club manager and England assistant coach, certainly thinks that he can pose a real threat at the finals. “When Mark Viduka is fit, there is no one better in the Premier League,” he said. “He is a special player. He has got real quality.”

Australia assistant coach Graham Arnold agreed with McLaren’s assessment. “He’s a very special type of striker,” he said. “There are not many players like him with that style, a target man with the strength he has on the ball. He brings other people into play because he’s a special player.” One thing is certain: Australia will need their ‘special’ striker to be on top form when the FIFA World Cup begins in June.

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