Herd warned against playing games – Horvat

FORMER Socceroos defender Steve Horvat believes no player should be allowed to hold Australia to ransom, following revelations rising Aston Villa star Chris Herd could be stolen from under the noses of the national team.

According to his England-based agent, Gary Williams, the Perth born and raised Herd is believed to be under scrutiny from Scotland following a string of impressive performances for Villa in the English Premier League.

Herd, whose parents are Scottish, has played twice for the Young Socceroos (under-20s) but has yet to make his national team debut, despite being involved in a training camp for fringe Socceroos, Olyroos and Young Socceroos in Duisburg in March. Williams warned Herd could be on the verge of a switch unless Australia acted quickly.

“Like any Australian player, Chris wants to play for his country. It’s where he was born and bred,” Williams told The World Game website. “But the reality is that if they don’t call him up, somebody else will. The ball is really in Australia’s court. Scotland is definitely interested. They have been watching him closely.”

Horvat, who won 32 caps, says although Australia has to be careful not to lose talented players to other countries, he believes it is wrong for players to try to dictate to the national team.

“Having been lucky enough to represent Australia a number of times, I believe no one should be playing Australia off against another nation,” he said. “I know what it meant to me to pull on the green and gold and it should be the same to each player who is given that opportunity. The players are not the ones who should be dictating who represents Australia. But we also have to be careful. We need to ensure we never miss out on a potential Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka or Tim Cahill.

“There needs to be good communication between the under-17s, the under-20s and the Socceroos coaching staff so we identify players who show the potential to be a Socceroo.”

While Horvat stopped short of suggesting it would be a bad career move for Herd to switch to Scotland, he said the youngster needed to carefully look at his options.

“Australia is now ranked higher than Scotland and we would be more likely to be part of a World Cup,” he said. “A plus (playing for Scotland) would be playing larger footballing nations more regularly and potentially playing in the Euros, but Scotland would even struggle to qualify for those.”

Herd, 22, has made nine appearances for Villa since his debut last season. A midfielder who can also play at right back, he was a product of the Joondalup academy in WA and joined Villa in 2005. Horvat said Australia would not always be able to stop players switching allegiances, as happened with Josip Simunic who ended up playing for Croatia.

“Some players are always going to slip through the net,” he said. “But I believe we have only really missed out on one player. So we are not doing a whole lot wrong.”

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