Josip Skoko excited to be playing back at home
Author: Bradley Green Courtesy: Geelong Advertiser
WHEN Josip Skoko lined up a long-range shot against Everton on Wednesday night, his mind briefly drifted back four years.
On a Wednesday night in May 2006, Skoko scored a memorable goal for Australia against Greece in front of 90,000 fans at the MCG and said those memories came flooding back as he attempted to repeat the dose in his Melbourne Heart debut.
“As soon as the ball popped up in the air it felt a little bit like that night,” Skoko said yesterday.
“I hit it pretty well and I was spewing that it didn’t go in.”
The Geelong soccer star is thrilled to be permanently back home after spending more than a decade plying his trade overseas and believes the Heart showed some encouraging signs against the English Premier League club that it can have a major impact in the A-League this season.
“I’m not saying that we’ll win it, but it would be nice to at least squeeze into the finals in our first year and that will be rewarding for everyone involved at the club,” Skoko said.
“I can see there’s a capable bunch of guys there. The young guys coming through impressed me and we’ve got a good mix of experience and youth there. I know some of the boys already and they are very high-quality players so I’m very excited. We showed (against Everton) that we can play and we’ll only get better and better.”
Skoko, who turns 35 in December, only returned home late last week and met his new teammates for the first time on Monday.
“It’s been a bit crazy but I’m looking forward to settling down a bit more,” he said.
“I had a good break for a long stretch (after finishing with Hajduk Split) and now I’m ready to get back into it.
“I always said that I hadn’t had a go at the top level here and I wanted to give it a go at the end of my career. The opportunity came up at the perfect time.”
Skoko, who played 51 games for the Socceroos between 1997-2007, said he was also looking forward to spending more time helping out the where he began his career North Geelong.
