Milligan discovers perfect balance

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SOCCEROO Mark Milligan has revealed how career-best form has coincided with stability on and off the pitch.

One of just three players to make a third straight World Cup, Milligan is yet to play a minute but that hoodoo is set to be broken against Chile on June 14 (AEST).

In fact, Milligan now is among the Socceroos' most important and most experienced players, with all of 29 caps.

Now 28, Milligan, 28, admitted he may not have been in Brazil if not for the Australian he met in London just after Beijing 2008.

Milligan said he was far less disciplined before meeting straight-shooting Rhia, now his wife and mother of their two kids.

"It happens to people when they're young and free,'' said the Sydney-raised Melbourne Victory midfielder.

"Rhia was never afraid to point out my faults and she didn't mince her words and that was one of the things that drew me to her.

"It was about life choices, she pointed out to me in any line of work, if you're not focused, driven and well-drilled you won't be successful."

"More in terms of just where my head was at. You could get caught up in, playing at Sydney I had a lot of mates I went to school with and maybe instead of that extra session at training you would go to the movies with a friend.

"Everything was very easy when I was at home.

"Japan and Asia had a lot to do with that too, it's a real job over there.

"There's a difference between the first few years of the A-League and now the way I go about things.''

And the two newest additionsyoungest additions to the Milligan family have helped him strike a balance.

In a season when Milligan dealt with a knee operation and overseas interest, daughters Maya, four, and Audrey, 17 months, helped him move on.

"They're a massive reality check. They help through the good times but especially through the tough times because they bring things into perspective,'' he said.

"You think you've had a crappy game or session and you come home to smiling kids and you think, I've just been running around a pitch, what do I have to whinge about?

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"I give everything I have to football while I'm at training and when I come home it's family time.

"Separating the two but using the positives from both has helped me a lot.''

The other form of stability has come on the pitch, specifically his shift from central defence to midfield at the start of the 2012-13 A-League season, though he revealed that wasn't the plan when signing from Japanese side JEF United.

Now with suggestions Milligan should again be deployed at stopper amid a Socceroos injury crisis in defence, he said he would have to rewire himself.

"The plan on coming home was always to play centre back,'' Milligan said. "I was trying extremely hard to change the minds of Ange and Musky (Kevin Muscat) before I came back. The way things went the first couple of rounds, I ended up in midfield.

"I've worked so hard to make my name as a midfielder, as a 6. My physical attributes are changing, I'm a lot lighter than I used to be.

"Centre-backs make shorter, sharper runs, I have more of a constant pace.

"A lot of things in my game have changed and it would take me time to adapt, because I've worked hard to get my body to a point where I can play midfield."

"I feel I'm playing the best football of my career and firmly believe it's because I've been left in one position.''

Milligan, the first bona fide A-League Socceroo, Western Sydney's Matthew Spiranovic and Brisbane' Ivan Franjic have followed.And he said it was a completely different feeling heading into a World Cup knowing he was set for game-time to play after being on the periphery2006 and 2010.

"The 2006 World Cup was a massive surprise for myself, I hadn't been involved at all,'' he said.

"A lot of players were at the peak of their career and had big reputations. To go into that environment as a young player was an incredible experience, plus the results _ it was surreal.

"In 2010 I thought I would be in the original squad but to make the final 23 was a bit of a shock just because I'd fallen out of the frame during qualifiers.

"Then I felt I had a much better chance of game-time there. I felt more complete as a player, one thing that still worked against me was that I'd been playing a few different positions.

"The difference with this (Brazil) is I've been involved more in the lead-up and played a heavier role than I ever have so that gives me confidence in being and feeling more a part of the team.''

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