Garcia sets World Cup target

Garcia aiming to play for Socceroos at South Africa showpiece

Last updated: 7th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Garcia sets World Cup target

Garcia: Has set a World Cup target

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Hull midfielder Richard Garcia has targeted a return to regular first-team football as he eyes a place in the Australia World Cup squad.

The 28-year-old could replace the suspended Craig Fagan against Everton on Sunday, and is keen to return to the team, having not featured for the Tigers since January.

And out-of-favour Garcia believes a regular starting berth will boost his chances of adding to his four international caps.

He said: "You never like being left out of the team and it's another chance for me to get back and show what I can do.

"It's been very frustrating. From a personal point of view, you always want to be playing. But you just bide your time and wait for your chance again."

Regarding his World Cup chances, Garcia added: "You need to be playing to be in good form and to try and get yourself on the plane. I'm looking to try to hold my spot down and play as much as I can before the end of the season."

Hull have had a stop-start last four weeks, with other teams' cup commitments meaning they have had two weekends off and have not played a first-team match since the 3-0 defeat at West Ham a fortnight ago.

Break

Manager Phil Brown arranged games in Ireland and against Doncaster - ostensibly to help midfielder Jimmy Bullard's recovery from his latest knee injury - in the meantime, and Garcia feels the break from Premier League action could help Hull.

"Throughout your career you have periods like that and it's been a good chance for some players to have a rest and others to get a few minutes under their belt, so I think it's been a good break," he said.

The Tigers slipped back into the league's bottom three last weekend as Bolton took advantage of their inaction by beating Wolves.

And escaping the drop zone with a win at Goodison Park will not be easy, with Everton having recorded wins over Manchester United and Chelsea in the last month.

Garcia, though, is optimistic they can match their rivals over the closing stages of the season and secure a third successive season of top-flight football.

He added: "It's about playing the best that you can and going for that win. We're all conscious of the fact there's only a couple of months to go so we know what we have to do and we'll try and start that on Sunday.

"As long as you're not in bottom three come May 9, that's the most important thing. The boys are high spirited and we're all confident we can complete the task in hand."