James Troisi says Holger Osieck’s opinion doesn’t matter to him, shrugging off the former Socceroo boss’s criticism of him to star in Australia's 2-2 draw with Germany on Thursday morning (AEDT) in Kaiserslautern.
Osieck claimed Troisi – Australia’s Asian Cup hero with the winning goal in the final on January 31 in Sydney - wasn’t good enough to be a starting XI player at international level.
But the Zulte Waregem attacker showed just what quality he does have, scoring a superb header and producing a sensational all-round display as the Socceroos went close to shocking the world champions.
“Football is a matter of opinions. I didn’t play for two years [for the national team] so obviously I knew he didn’t like me for a reason,” Troisi told Fox Sports when asked about Osieck’s criticism.
“At this point in time his opinion doesn’t matter.
“I must be doing something right because I’m in the starting XI and I’m happy to be here every time.
“I want to give it my best and it’s amazing what us boys are doing at the moment.”
While Troisi was sublime, the Socceroos didn’t have a bad player as they gave as good as they got against last year’s World Cup-winners, drawing 2-2 in Kaiserslautern on Thursday morning (AEDT).
Troisi was part of a new-look front three alongside Mathew Leckie and Nathan Burns and the trio caused the German defence all sorts of problems.
“They definitely weren’t comfortable and we put them under a lot of pressure,” Troisi said.
“We had quite a few chances so we’d be quite disappointed tonight [we didn’t win]..
“Even against the world’s best we want to play our style of football. It’s quite taxing the way we play. We all have to work very hard but we reap the rewards at the end.
“Who would have thought 12 months ago we would more than give the world champions a run for their money. We’ve come a long way and it’s fantastic to see.”