Josip Simunic is one of the finest footballers Australia has ever produced, even if he played against the Socceroos instead of for them.
Now with his playing days well behind him, Simunic sits down with Michael Cain to look back on his career, from the early days at the AIS to finishing up at Zagreb – and, of course, those three yellow cards at the World Cup against Australia back in 2006.
» Watch the full interview in the player aboveFacebookTwitterRedditEmailShare
Early days: the AIS
Stints at large clubs in the Bundesliga and a 105-game international career do not come easy. Simunic was set on to the path of a career in football from a young age with the help of the setup at the AIS under head coach Ron Smith.
“I was the luckiest person in the world. Being from Canberra I used to go and watch the Institute even a few years before I came, and I’d seen it was a really high level, seen great players come out of there. I used to watch almost all their games.
“The moment when Ron Smith called and asked if I’d be interested in coming to the Institute – that was like being chosen to go to Real Madrid or Barcelona or Liverpool or Manchester United. It was amazing.”
Originally an attacking midfielder with an admittedly limited aerobic capacity, it was Smith who suggested a positional switch for Simunic which turned out to be a pivotal move.
“Thank god someone understood football how he understood it. He looked at every detail and came to have a chat with me and my father and said, ‘Listen, I think you’re potentially going to have some problems if you go overseas and try to play this position’.
