Matthew Spiranovic's excellence with the Wanderers puts him in line for a World Cup berth Matthew Spiranovic at Western Sydney this year. Almost a decade ago, Matthew Spiranovic was emerging as one of the next big things in the Australian game. In 2005, when he was still a 16-year-old living at home with his parents in Geelong, the then Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick called up the gangling centre-back and played him in Victory's first match. It wasn't one for the record books, and there were few there to watch a Saturday afternoon practice game at Oakleigh Cannons' ground against the Victorian Premier League club in late April. But it was history of sorts. Matthew Spiranovic playing as a 16-year-old in 2005 in Melbourne Victory's first practice match. The elegant Spiranovic formed part of the defence that day as Victory prepared for its first competitive game, against Adelaide. At the time, he was a Victorian Institute of Sport student and had already played in the under-17 national team, which was then being coached by Ange Postecoglou, who is now coach of the Socceroos. That Spiranovic was comfortable on the ball should not have come as a surprise given that the 193-centimetre defender began life as a midfielder: it was felt at the time that his ability to play his way out from the back made him the sort of central defender who would surely have a bright future. Spiranovic's career trajectory since that day hasn't quite turned out the way most would have projected. Yes, he has played some 16 times for the Socceroos and represented his country in a junior World Cup and also a summer Olympics (Beijing in 2008). He won a German Cup winner's medal at 19 with FC Nurnburg, and has played for one of Asia's biggest clubs, Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds. Yet, at 25, he is not playing in one of the big European leagues, as most would have forecast. He is back at home playing in the A-League for Western Sydney Wanderers, trying to relaunch his career and stake his claim for a spot in the World Cup squad for Brazil. Spiranovic joined the Wanderers just before the start of this season and has made quite an impression with Tony Popovic's team, keeping club captain Michael Beauchamp, a former Socceroo centre-back, out of the starting line-up. On Saturday evening, Spiranovic will look to build on the good impression he has already made when the Wanderers host Melbourne Heart, which Wanderers beat 1-0 at AAMI Park earlier in the season in a game that was Spiranovic's debut for his new club. With doubts over the World Cup future of Socceroos skipper Lucas Neill and no established pairing at the heart of Australia's defence (it is hard to see veteran Sasa Ognenovski being recalled), Spiranovic has a wonderful opportunity to fulfil the destiny that many thought would be his and establish himself as a first-choice defender at international level. To do so, he must remain injury free and show consistency and application over the next six months: with Postecoglou based in Australia and able to watch him regularly, he will not get a better opportunity. It is unusual for sporstmen to express regrets about career choices or decisions that may not have been in their long-term interests, and Spiranovic is no different. Instead, he prefers to concentrate on the positives of his time in the Bundesliga with Nurnburg, which he joined as a 18-year-old and where he made 34 appearances in five years, including a German Cup final; Urawa Red Diamonds (38 appearances in two spells in Japan): and Qatari club Al Arabi (12 appearances in the 2012-13 season). "I felt my first years in Germany were pretty successful," he said. I had a German Cup winners' medal under my belt at 19, and I played in the UEFA Cup at that age. But like every player, I had my ups and downs. In my time at Urawa I played under three coaches and every one that came in had his own philosophy and his own players. It was the move, at the age of 24, to the Middle East that brought out the critics. Spiranovic lost his place in the national squad and it was said by many that he lacked ambition and was happy to settle for the money by moving to the soccer backwater of Qatar. Normally, big-name players go to such leagues at the end of their careers for a superannuation top-up. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I thought it was the right opportunity for me," Spiranovic said. I think people don't know how competitive the league there is. There are a lot of quality players and every week I was up against a quality striker. His return to the A-League, he says, was made easier by the fact that the competition is improving year to year. He wasn't short of suitors, either, with Melbourne Victory at one time being touted as a potential destination. I had other options, but came to the decision that this one at West Sydney was the right one. I think the league is a very good standard and it's improving all the time. I spent two weeks on trial here and saw what the level was and how good the coach was, and I knew I would improve as a player. The World Cup was important to me and, with the quality of the league and the competition you face, I will be able to show the coach what I can do. I know if I am playing regularly and playing well I will get every chance to make the squad. Being coached by a man who played as a centre-back for Australia in the World Cup of 2006 won't hurt, either. Poppa was such a success in his career and he is doing well as a young coach, too. It's good to have someone like him, who has played at high levels in my position, as my coach.