Published: Thursday, 10th July, 2008 09:00
Fed dreaming of Olympic gold
By Anthony Smith
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Going for gold: Soceroo Adam Federici hopes to get amongst the medals at the Beijing Olympics.
ADAM Federici has told how he found it impossible to ignore the lure of an Olympic gold.
The 23-year-old goalkeeper will head for Beijing in the next couple of weeks after winning a place in Australia’s Olympic squad and is certain to miss the start of the Championship season.
That will be a blow to his chances of displacing Marcus Hahnemann as the club’s first-choice stopper, but Federici says it was an easy choice once the Socceroos had guaranteed a place in their starting line-up.
“You are playing for a gold medal which, no matter what sport you play, is the pinnacle,” Federici told the Chronicle.
“I’m extremely honoured to be going because it’s a bit like a mini-World Cup. A lot of good players from all over the world are going to be there and I’m really looking forward to it.”
The Australians are in one of the toughest groups in the Olympics along with Argentina, Ivory Coast and Serbia.
Their last scheduled group game is on Wednesday, August 13 and if they fail to qualify Federici will fly home immediately and be available for Reading’s home fixture against Plymouth Argyle the following weekend.
But that will not be the first time he meets up with his team-mates since last season.
He stressed: “I will play a few pre-season friendlies with Reading then head off. I wouldn’t have agreed to go if I wasn’t going to play.
“If that wasn’t the case then I would have stayed here to fight for the number one spot with Marcus.
“It was tough decision but being involved in an Olympic Games is a great opportunity.”
Federici has had limited first-team chances at Reading and a number of rival clubs have shown interest in him over the summer.
However, he insists his dream is still to pull on the Royals shirt and that he is not considering a move.
“There was quite a bit of interest out there but my goal is still to play for Reading,” he declared. “I’ve put in so much work to get where I am over the years it would be a shame to leave now I am so close.
“Going elsewhere doesn’t make sense to me. I would be giving up all the hard work. I want to see it through and force my way into the first-team.”
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