Schwarzer's future lies in West London with Fulham

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Qantas Socceroo goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has revealed today that he has signed a two-year deal with English Premier League club Fulham Athletic, ending a decade long association with Middlesbrough.

Schwarzer was tight-lipped about the move, preferring to answer questions on the match against Ghana and that after Friday night he would be more than happy to talk about his future.

“Yep I am,” when asked if he was happy to have secured his immediate club future. “However I don-t really want to talk about this at the moment; I would rather talk about the game (against Ghana). It-s a very important game for us and after Friday night, we can talk further about my future, no problems.

Schwarzer admitted he would have preferred his contract discussions to perhaps have been sorted earlier so not as to disturb coming into camp.

“In an ideal situation, of course, but unfortunately these things don-t always happen this way. I felt once it got so far, it was important to sort it out sooner rather than later and not to affect any of the preparation for the (World Cup) qualifiers.

“I said a couple of weeks ago that I always wanted to be available for this game and you can-t always foresee what-s going to happen in the future. While it got in the way a little bit; it-s all sorted out now; Pim was very supportive of it all, as was the FFA and it was very easy for me to fly back and sort things out and then come back out again.”

“I went through the whole season not knowing where my future was going to be, but I was reasonably comfortable with it. I was always very confident it would be sorted out; I did have a few other options, but I felt this was the best one for me.”

Schwarzer doesn-t believe his late arrival will have any affects for the game on Friday night, but is yet to speak with coach Pim Verbeek about the game against the Ghanaian-s.

“Good, good,” he said, when asked how he is feeling. “Obviously it-s a long trip, but I have done it before; I did it before the Qatar game; I think I got in the day before.

“I feel fine; I trained this morning, almost 100% and I am looking forward to tomorrow night-s game.

“I haven-t spoken to Pim about tomorrow night as yet, but I feel fine.”

Schwarzer also welcomed having four keepers in camp and that it-s a good opportunity for them to stake a claim for the future.

“I think it-s great. Obviously Pim is fairly new in the job and there is a lot of guys that haven-t been involved before and it-s a good opportunity for them to come in and show what they can do and stake a claim in future squads.”

On his own form!

“I was happy with it. If you play well, that-s going to help with the results and help the team and in the end that-s what-s most important.”

The Socceroos play Ghana on Friday night at the Sydney Football Stadium, kicking off at 8pm. The match will be preceded by the Matildas and Canada clash, which kicks off at 5.15pm.

www.footballaustralia.com.au will have live text commentary updates of both matches.