Melbourne Victory Blog » Rodrigo Vargas

Rodrigo Vargas and Danny Allsopp get Socceroos call-up

Eric — Tue, 13 May 2008 08:47:24 +0000

Rodrigo Vargas has been named in the squad for the Socceroos’ May 23 friendly against Ghana. Along with him are Melbourne Victory team mates Danny Allsopp and Leigh Broxham.

The 23-man squad features nine A-League players.

Victory Awards: Vargas and Thompson share Victory Medal

Eric — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:01:53 +0000

Archie Thompson and Rodrigo Vargas were announced as co-winners of the Victory Medal last night.

Kevin Muscat and Michael Theoklitos were joint runners-up, with Carlos Hernández trailing a point behind.

Both Thompson and Vargas picked up other awards as well, with Thompson receiving the SEN Player of the Year award and Vargas voted Players’ Player of the Year. Leigh Broxham also won multiple awards, scoring both the Clubman of the Year and the Age Young Player of the Year awards.

None of the results particularly surprise me, even though they are quite different from the Fans’ Choice Melbourne Victory Awards we hosted on MVFC Blog a month ago. Fans picked Michael Theoklitos for Best Player and Sebastian Ryall for Best Young Player (Leigh Broxham was a very distant third in that contest).

What do you think of the results of the Victory Awards?

Poll: Which Melbourne Victory player is most likely to feature in the Socceroos squad against Qatar?

Eric — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:46:01 +0000

Pim Verbeek held his second training camp yesterday, this time calling in 29 players from the A-League. Eight of the players at the last training camp were left out this time, including the Melbourne Victory’s Leigh Broxham and Nick Ward.

Kevin Muscat, Archie Thompson and Rodrigo Vargas have all been picked again though.

Archie has already said he doesn’t like his chances of getting picked. Will the fact that Alex Brosque, John Aloisi and Joel Griffiths are all playing in the A-League finals help them to score a spot ahead of Thompson?

Muscat and Vargas will be up against similar challenges, of course. All up, the 20 of the 29 men selected for Pim’s second training camp are playing in the finals. Making the squad is going to be a stiff challenge for the Melbourne boys.

Which Melbourne Victory player is most likely to feature in the Socceroos squad against Qatar?

Vote in the sidebar and leave your comments below.

Victory players picked for Socceroos training camp

Eric — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:00:06 +0000

Pim Verbeek announced his 22-man selection for a Socceroos training camp next week. Among them are Melbourne Victory’s Archie Thompson, Kevin Muscat and Rodrigo Vargas.

Only A-League players were picked for the training camp, though Verbeek insists there’s no guarantee that he’ll pick exclusively A-League players for the opening World Cup qualifier against Qatar on February 6.

On his perception of the A-League, Verbeek said:

“I enjoyed every game I’ve seen, the stadiums are fantastic, the crowds are unbelievable.”

“I saw great goals, but I saw also unbelievable mistakes.”

“It’s up to me to find out if the players make that same mistake too many times because then I cannot use them.” (The World Game)

While Archie’s inclusion in the line-up is predictable, Muscat and Vargas are surprising additions. Not that they’re undeserving – quite the contrary. Muscat is the rock-solid heart of the Victory; and Vargas has been one of the few constants in an ever-changing defensive line-up.

That Michael Theoklitos didn’t make it is disappointing. Clint Bolton and Ante Covic are the senior goalkeepers to have been picked for the camp. But Graham Arnold has selected Danny Vukovic, along with fourteen other Olyroos, to train alongside the senior Socceroos. Unsurprisingly, Leigh Broxham and Nick Ward have both been picked as well.

It will be interesting to see how many A-League players will feature in the Qatar match. If he wants any of the European-based Aussies, Verbeek knows he can get them. But since they’ll only be arriving about 48 hours before the game kicks off, a squad made up entirely of the European-based players seems risky – perhaps even more risky than a squad predominantly made up of local talent.

Profile: Rodrigo Vargas

Eric — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 22:49:37 +0000

Rodrigo Vargas was last season’s surprise package.

While he didn’t attract the media attention that the “Trio from Rio” did, Vargas proved that homegrown talent is as good – if not better – than foreign imports. While 2 of the 3 Brazilians became benchwarmers, local boy Vargas started 23 games. The only other player to start that many games was Danny Allsopp.

Vargas may have come as a suprise to some, but those well-acquainted with the old NSL have heard of him before. Vargas spent 5 seasons with the Melbourne Knights, where he became known as an aggressive, reliable defender. When the A-League took off in 2005, signalling the death of the National Soccer League, Vargas signed with the Green Gully Cavaliers, one of the Victorian Premier League’s best sides. A year later, he had signed with the Melbourne Victory.

The Victory’s defence hadn’t been its main downfall in the 1st season, but the addition of a solid, experienced player like Roddy Vargas did wonders for the team. Vargas and Adrian Leijer formed the backbone of the Melbourne defence, especially after Daniel Piorkowski suffered an injury in the 13th round which put him out for the rest of the season. The Vargas-Leijer combo was about as sure-fire as the Muscat-Brebner partnership in midfield.

I’m curious to see whether Merrick will shake up the defence this season. The signing of Ljubo Milicevic and the return of Piorkowski mean that he has more manpower to choose from. For me, however, Vargas and Leijer are the default combination: unless they fail to keep the Melbourne defence as tight as we’ve come to expect, I doubt that we’ll see too many matches without them.