He hasn’t featured for the Caltex Socceroos for four years but goalkeeper Brad Jones admits he never gave up hope of earning a recall to the national team.
The Feyenoord shot-stopper was one of three goalkeepers included in Bert van Marwijk’s 26-man squad for Australia’s upcoming friendlies against Norway and Colombia.
Jones has been rewarded after a superb spell in the Eredivisie over the past two seasons, with the 35-year-old helping Feyenoord to the domestic title in 2016/17.
“Yeah it’s nice. It’s been a while. I’m looking forward to getting back in and looking forward to what the future holds,” Jones told Feyenoord TV.
“It was something I never really gave up on. The way things were with the group and the staff, I knew it was going to be difficult to change an opinion with the coach.
“You have to wait. It’s nice now that a new coach comes in and obviously has seen what I’ve been doing, and wants to bring me in.”
Jones revealed van Marwijk, a two-time former coach of Feyenoord, sounded out the gloveman’s availability following his appointment as Socceroos boss.
“Yeah it was nice. It’s obviously closer to home for him to come and watch me,” Jones said.
“I think playing in the Eredivisie was also a plus for me because it’s a league he’s obviously well-drilled in.
“It was a positive talk. He asked if I was available which I always have been. It was good to chat with him. For him, it was good to hear the thoughts that I had also on the set-up and the squad.”
While not looking too far ahead, Jones admitted the opportunity to potentially head to the 2018 FIFA World Cup was a motivating factor, with the keeper missing the 2010 World Cup for family reasons.
“I was involved in the 2010 World Cup in the lead-up. Obviously that was cut short with the news of my son,” Jones said.
“It’s something that I still wanted to kind of achieve and also make the people proud around me that have stood by me since that one.
“It was a difficult time. Maybe the chance to go to this one can [help me] have that feeling of achievement. To actually go and it’d be something that would make the family proud as well which is always nice.”