Big feature and interview with Marco in a major Swiss paper recently:
http://www.bernerzeitung.ch/sport/fussball/Neuland...
"NEW LAND FOR THE NEW ZEALANDER"
By Philipp Rindlisbacher. Updated 07/03/2015
In Australia, Marco Rojas was higher rated than Alessandro Del Piero. In Germany, the 23 year-old could not make an impression. In Thun he has to prove himself - on Saturday at FC Basel.
The joy is back: Marco Rojas feels very comfortable in Thun.
Photo: Patric Spahni
On YouTube it is almost all there to see. A video, dedicated to Marco Rojas . Six and a half minutes of montage, it has a greater effect than a well-worded letter of recommendation. On display are 15 goals of the New Zealander, he scored in the 2012/13 season in the top division for Australian team Melbourne.
Once he meets through duster, then he dribbles three players and pushes the ball past the goalie.Outstanding his shot from 25 yards into the top corner, the wonderful volley from the edge. The viewer sees this man can do something.
At the end of the mentioned championship Rojas is voted the best player in the league, allowing some Alessandro Del Piero behind. Is rumored interest from Liverpool, Bremen and Hanover; but the 23-year-old joins to the VFB Stuttgart, is hired to 2017.
Change of scene. The morning session of FC Thun is over, some players do stretching, others fool around. One is still on the artificial turf; sprints, juggling, practicing free kicks. It is Marco Rojas, the loanee from the Bundesliga.
After one and a half years of injury he needs extra shifts. In Stuttgart the shrewd technician had been allowed to play in the reserves; soon he was deported to the lower league Fürth, came there just to play 26 minutes. The career start in Germany Rojas had imagined otherwise.
"It feels like a personal defeat." A metatarsal fracture and bursitis threw him back. The professional is because even said to be physically fragile. Fürths ex-coach Frank Kramer let announced meanwhile, Rojas thinks too much on the field and after, cramps up.
The last difficult months had left their mark on Rojas over, notes Thun's sporting director Andres Gerber. "He has, however, increased, can still be very valuable to us." Gerber regrets that the New Zealander will move in the summer. "His contract in Stuttgart is very well endowed.We are able to barely hold him."
In a way Rojas enters new territory in the Oberland. "In Australia, I was a talent that allowed much, but little had. In Germany, I had little impact.Now Thun is expecting me to help solve the problems on the offensive. "
The underrated circumstances
He grew up in New Zealand but in Marco Roja's veins also flows South American blood. His father is Chilean, but due to political unrest, he fled to Oceania. Son Marco was mentored in New Zealand among others by Wynton Rufer.
The former Zurich, Grasshoppers and Aarau professional advised him to move from Australia to a smaller league. Rojas opted for the large step; now he speaks of having underestimated the circumstances. "I was very far away from home, experienced a culture shock." In Thun he now feels in good hands, "it comes to family and forth, after training does not vanish at any home immediately."
In connection with Rojas it can be written that he is a model professional without airs. So restrained is he off the field (favorite food: salad, Favorite Drink: Water, Hobbies: reading), that his everyday life is ordinary. It is on the ball, that he tries to make the action. "In football it comes to creativity. This I want to live. "
The special nickname
Down Under he succeeded pretty well. With fans and journalists, he is at a premium, is referred to as "Kiwi Messi". As Argentina star Lionel Messi he does not measure 170 inches, weighs less than 70 pounds. As Argentina's star he is shy, wears, paragraph 10.
There would be onerous nickname says Rojas, "but the term is still quite exaggerated." At least a rudimentary visual similarity he does not deny, "only stupid that Messi is better than me something and deserves a bit more."
In New Zealand's national team has established itself Rojas, 2012 in London, he was part of the Olympic team. In an Australian newspaper was read, he was scheduled for a role in a soap opera. The midfielder says with a smile, "it was a guest spot, but it never eventuated".
He wants to cause a stir in sporting terms, on Saturday (20 clock) in Basel. Only too happy if the top countries would one day a video with Rojas sports highlights put on YouTube.