Former Poli Timişoara player Jonathan McKain was recently interviewed about his current career and about how he sees Romanian football.
The Aussie is currently committed to Wellington Phoenix, a Kiwi outfit which plays in the Australian championship. Even though only 10 teams are competing against each other, Jon says the league table is quite compact, and the results can go either way. For example, when his team was eighth, they beat the leaders 6-0. "Maybe we wouldn't have a chance for the title in Romania, but we would be somewhere near the top." McKain presumes. It's no wonder then, that New Zealand has gained a wonderful spot in the World Cup next year, along with the Australian. The "All Whites" as the Kiwi soccer team is called, are beginning to look up to their much more popular bigger brothers, the "All Blacks". The fantastic result is the work of Ricki Herbert who coaches both the national team and Wellington Phoenix. In fact, 8 players from Wellington form the base of the "All Whites" squad. Mckain is certainly in good company.
The Australian defender has spent 5 years in Romania and speaks the language quite fluently. He keeps in touch with his former teammates from Timişoara - Marius Popa, Naidin and Abiodun. He's had ups and downs, but in the end he thinks he will not ever return to Romania, despite receiving offers. His motives are his family on the one side, and the appalling state of the atmosphere surrounding football in Romania on the other side. "I check the results on the web. I see only scandals, scandals, scandals.... There is something wrong when there's a scandal every week." is Jonathan's view on things.
All the best to your family and your career, Jon!
Sources:
evz.ro (Romanian)
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