Viduka determined to keep South Africa dream alive

Mark Viduka is determined to keep his World Cup dream alive by turning back the clock with Newcastle United.

The veteran forward has played down talk of a premature retirement as he bids to prove his long-term fitness after a series of injuries.

Viduka was hopeful of making his latest comeback in Saturday’s Premier League relegation battle at West Bromwich Albion after six weeks on the sidelines with groin trouble.

The 33-year-old is fighting to earn a new contract at St James’ Park as he bids to prove he can still cut it at the highest level for both club and country.

South Africa stages the 2010 World Cup, and with Australia well-placed to qualify for the tournament, Viduka would love to bring the curtain down on his international career with back-to-back finals appearances after helping his country to the last 16 in Germany three years ago.

Injuries have prevented Viduka adding to his 43 caps and 11 Socceroos goals since July 2007, but he said recently: “Of course I want to play for Australia again because it’s something I love and it’s never out of my mind.”

Pim Verbeek’s side have performed impressively in their World Cup qualifying group going into Wednesday’s clash with Japan in Yokohama, and they remain firmly on course to make the finals for the third time in the nation’s history.

To work his way back into the squad, Viduka must re-discover his fine form of 12 months ago. In the meantime, he knows he has much to prove to Newcastle supporters after leaving the pitch to chants of ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt’ from angry travelling fans when limping off in the 2-1 defeat at Wigan Athletic on December 26.

That came less than four weeks after his return from a six-month lay-off with a career-threatening Achilles problem in what has been an injury-plagued two seasons at St James’ Park.

His persistent problems mean he has no hope of playing enough games in the remainder of the campaign to trigger the third year option on his current deal as the Victorian fights for his future after making just 20 Premier League starts – scoring seven goals – in 18 months.

Sources at St James’ Park suggest that unless Viduka enjoys a prolific second-half to the campaign, the club is highly unlikely to enter talks into extending his 60,000-pound-a-week contract.

His availability offers manager Joe Kinnear the chance to switch to a 4-3-3 formation which served his predecessor Kevin Keegan well last season when the Australian’s goals as part of a successful three-pronged attack in partnership with England international Michael Owen and Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins helped steer Newcastle clear of danger in the final three months.

Owen is expected to return from injury at the start of March and Viduka said: “It’s up to the manager what formation he plays, but he’s got a lot of options up front when everyone’s fit and this team has got goals in it.

“We pulled away from trouble last season when we used that formation and if we can click up front again then hopefully we can do the same this time.

“We showed towards the end of last season we could play together as a three up front. We posed a threat because they couldn’t deal with Oba’s pace, Michael’s goalscoring ability and myself as the targetman so I’d love to repeat that.”

Viduka’s return coincides with that of fellow long-term injury absentees Martins and Alan Smith in a timely boost to Newcastle’s hopes of beating the drop as they face a daunting six-week run of home games against Everton, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea that will go a long way to defining their season.

Kinnear revealed: “Mark’s building up his fitness all the time, and having the lads back gives us more firepower and it will seem like having three new players on board.

“It’s a pleasure to have them back because they’ve been a big miss for us and it’s an important time of season to have the majority of your senior players available. They’re players we need for the run-in.”