Thomas Rooney – Freelance Sports Journalist
Australian forward Scott McDonald failed to get on the score sheet last night as Scottish Champions Celtic were held to a 0-0 draw at home to AaB Aalborg in their first Champions League fixture of the season. McDonald – who has made nine appearances for Australia – started the game alongside Greek striker Georgios Samaras as Celtic looked to continue their excellent home record in Europe.
However, it wasn’t to be a winning start for McDonald and his team mates and in all honesty, the Australian striker wasn’t at his best. Other than being caught offside a number of times, he wasn’t involved at all and was replaced by Aiden McGeady after 62 minutes. Celtic played against ten men for the last 12 minutes and considering they missed a penalty in the first half as well – it really was a game they should have won.
That’s enough about Celtic’s failures though. I wanted to talk about Scott McDonald’s rise as a footballer. He has, after all, gone from playing for Bournemouth in 2003 to playing Champions League football in 2008. That really is quite something and I am pleased that he has made a name for himself in Scotland.
The 25-year-old is a regular starter for the Scottish Champions, who signed him after he impressed at fellow Scottish team Motherwell. During his time at Motherwell, McDonald scored 45 goals before Celtic snapped him up for around $1m. Then, during his first season at Celtic Park, he was in the form of his life; scoring 31 goals in a season that saw his team win the league title and reach the last 16 of the European Cup.
There is no doubt that moving to Scotland has done McDonald no end of good. He tried his luck in England but after spells at Southampton, Huddersfield, Bournemouth and MK Dons he failed to make an impact. However, after being such a success story for Celtic, I would put a lot of my football betting money on the fact that several English clubs would love to snap him up now. That’s how far he has come as a player.
So, what about his international career? Well, as yet he has failed to nail down a place in the Australian team. Karlsruher striker Josh Kennedy appears to be ahead of him in the pecking order at present. However, McDonald did make a rare start for his country against South Africa back in August and even though he didn’t break his international scoring duck, he was a very impressive performer during the 2-2 draw. The player himself admitted that it was the best he had played in an Australian shirt.
Hopefully, this type of performance can act as a springboard for McDonald’s future success with the Australian team. If he can continue scoring goals for Celtic, his confidence will be sky high and this can only benefit the national team. The football odds are certainly favouring another productive season for Celtic and McDonald, so I guess it is a case of ‘watch this space’ in terms of his international career.
