Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer hopped on a plane almost immediately after he and his team played Newcastle on Sunday,  only to arrive in Melbourne on the eve of Australia’s World Cup qualifier against Qatar, in which he is expected to start. He will only be able to attend one training session later today when he joins his the other socceroos at the Telstra Dome. His back-up is expected to be Newcastle Jets goalkeeper Ante Covic. "It’s very tight, and obviously it's not the ideal conditions for a game. I was just speaking to the manager, I'm thinking I'll pull up with no problems and it shouldn't be an issue," he said.

He also added that he wants to continue playing until the 2010 World Cup in South-Africa. "Getting towards the end of the last World Cup campaign, the feeling and atmosphere at the tournament was so unbelievable, that's something I want to experience again. I think it's important to set yourself some sort of long-term goal and for me that was the ideal goal I could set myself."