Emerton Surpised But Honoured To Play In Charity M

Qantas Socceroo Brett Emerton will probably never play with a bigger collection of football stars, as when he will play with the Ronaldinho XI in the “Football for Hope” Charity match on February 15 in Barcelona.

Qantas Socceroo Brett Emerton will probably never play with a bigger collection of football stars, as when he will play with the Ronaldinho XI in the “Football for Hope” Charity match on February 15 in Barcelona.

So it-s probably no surprise when his parents rang him and told him of his selection, that he was somewhat taken aback.

“Yes I was a little surprised, but it-s a great honour and it-s for a terrific cause,” Emerton said. “I understand the club has been informed of my selection for the match.”

The match, which will aid the victims of the Asian Tsunami crisis that has not only killed well over 100,000 people, but left millions homeless and with nothing, has been organised by FIFA and UEFA in conjunction with the Spanish Football Association and Barcelona. The match will played at the Nou Camp Stadium.

Asked how he felt lining up against and with so many world class players, Emerton found it hard to single out any players in particular, because there are just so many.

“There are too many great players to single out one player, who I am particularly looking forward to playing with or against. You-ve got the likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Zidane just to name a couple, so it-s going to be quite an experience.”

Although he has not received any official documentation for the match, with approximately 25 players per team, Emerton does not expect to see much game time.

“Being an exhibition match, obviously everyone will still want to win, but I don-t think it will be as competitive as usual. I think they will rotate it around to give everyone some game time.”

The match will coincide with a busy period for Emerton, with Australia only the week before playing away in South Africa, but it-s not something that will faze him.

“My body seems to be holding up quite well and while it will involve a bit of travel, as I said I don-t think this match will involve a lot of game time.”

His selection as Oceania-s representative in the international team has coincided with a period of good form from the right-sided midfielder both for his club Blackburn Rovers and Australia. Against Norway, Australia-s last international match, Emerton was one of the best players on the park and he has had a major influence on Blackburn-s rise up the Premier League table from the relegation zone.

“My form has been quite good lately and it helps that the team is performing well at the moment. I just hope we can continue to get more wins and climb even further up the table.”

Two days ago however Blackurn-s good run was almost shattered by relegation threatened Championship team Cardiff City in the FA Cup replay, who featured his Qantas Socceroo teammate Tony Vidmar as a second half substitute.

“We didn-t play well but we got away with the win. It wasn-t pretty to watch, but FA Cup games never usually are.”