While most of the calls have been for coach Holger Osieck to focus on youth as Australia looks to freshen its line-up for the upcoming World Cup campaign, Garcia has not given up hope he might force his way back into international reckoning once he starts playing regularly. ''I am still only 30, so I am younger than many of those in and around the squad,'' he said. ''I have been part of it before and I know what is required at international level, so I would like to think that if I play well here in the A-League and stay clear of injury, I might be able to catch the eye of the coaches again. Playing in the World Cup was the highlight of my career and I would love to be part of it again. I am confident I can do a job if the coach wants me.'' Garcia has returned to Australia at a much younger age than many of his international contemporaries, most of whom stay in Europe as long as they can before chasing riches in the Middle East. He says after such a long time in Britain, he wanted a change and a return to his homeland - and the chance to play regularly and regain the form that made him a regular in the EPL with Hull City when the team had a meteoric first season at the highest level of the English game. ''There were some discussions with Perth Glory but nothing too serious. Melbourne Heart sold the club to me and the vision they had, the type of football they wanted to play and the role I could have with them and I wanted to come here,'' Garcia said earlier this week as he watched his new teammates take on Adelaide United in a pre-season friendly.

While he might not have had the profile of some of his better-known teammates, Garcia certainly has a good CV. ''I spent nearly eight years at West Ham and although I did play for the first team, a lot of the time I was in the squad or on the bench,'' he said. ''There came a point, when I was about 23, that I needed to play first-team football, so I left and went to Colchester. ''It was a much smaller club - the stadium only held about 10,000 - but we had some great times there and got into the Championship … but I needed to move on to a bigger club if I wanted to achieve my goals in the game. So when Hull came in for me, I talked to [then manager] Phil Brown and the club officials, and they sold me on the vision of where they wanted to be, which was in the Premier League. It was a great journey and we made it in 2008 when we won the play-off final and went up. That first season was fantastic and I think we were so new that we shocked a lot of people who didn't know what to expect. But we got relegated the next season.'' His career has been disrupted in recent years by knee ligament injuries, but he says he is now fit and ready for the rigours of the A-League. ''I watched the highlights show when I was in the UK. There are some good players here and a lot of the players who have come back have maybe found it harder than they thought it might be,'' he said. ''It looks quite a physical competition, but I have spent my life playing in the Premiership and Championship and there are not many leagues that are quicker or more physical than them, so I should be able to cope.'' While Garcia has been mainly known in this country for his exploits as a wide player with the national team, Heart will likely use him as a central midfielder, a position he is comfortable in. - In the wake of chief executive Ben Buckley's departure, Football Federation Australia has lost another key official. Referees boss Mark Shield will leave at the end of the month after the governing body declined to turn his part-time job into a full-time one.

Shield, a two-time World Cup referee who also officiated in the final of the 2006 Asian Champions League and during the 2007 FIFA Club World Cup, has only been employed at Whitlam Square for 12 months, but was quick to impress with the way he overhauled the referees' structure. Shield last week unveiled a new selection process for referees in the A-League and W-League to widespread acclaim. It's believed he is leaving to take up a job outside soccer in central Queensland. With MICHAEL COCKERILL