Socceroos may have discovered their long-term captain in Sainsbury
The Socceroos' future captain may have already been identified after Trent Sainsbury was handed the armband for the first in his career, picked ahead of long-standing vice-captain Mark Milligan.
Australia coach Bert van Marwijk had no hesitation asking Sainsbury to lead his team out of the tunnel on Friday night against the Czech Republic in the absence of full-time captain, Mile Jedinak, who was rested.
Milligan has captained Australia on seven occasions since 2013 however van Marwijk says he was unaware of the 32-year-old's role as second in command, insisting Sainsbury was appointed captain due to his performances and personality.
"I didn’t know that [about] Milligan. I decided on my feeling that I think that he [Sainsbury] is the best. When Jedinak plays he is the captain," van Marwijk said.
Jedinak, will retain his captaincy for the Socceroos 2018 World Cup campaign and lead the country in Russia as he did four years ago in Brazil. However, at 33 there is speculation the 2019 Asian Cup in January may be Jedinak's last international tournament and van Marwijk's lasting legacy could be identifying his heir apparent.
It's not just his ability as a defender but his character that made Sainsbury van Marwijk's preferred leader for Friday's 4-0 win over Czech Republic. The Dutch coach highlighted Sainsbury's organisation and influence, suggesting he has all the personality traits to lead the national team, and at 26 could do so for a long time.
"I think he is one of the best central defenders of Australia. He has the personality and he coaches very good [on the field]," van Marwijk said.
Sainsbury was honoured to be recognised by the coach and captain his country.
"It's a nice little confidence boost, to have the approval of Bert himself. It's a massive honour, something you dream about as a kid, and I got to tick it off the bucket list," Sainsbury said.
"It's nice to wear the armband and have the honour of captaining your country. To do it in a 4-0 result put the cherry on top."
He helped the Socceroos overcome a sluggish start in the opening stanza to begin playing the brand of football van Marwijk has instilled in the players since the start of their training camp in Turkey 11 days ago.
"There were some teething problems at first but we started communicating better and slowly we started to gain more control in that defensive back third," Sainsbury said.
"In the first 10 or 15 minutes it was a little bit difficult to adjust, and we didn't really know what system they'd be playing so it was a bit of a guessing game at the start.
"Then we got a little bit more courage on the ball and started playing our football."