There’s little more than a month remaining until Australian coach Tony Popovic names his squad for this year’s FIFA World Cup.
Plenty of intrigue exists as to who will make the final cut, with defender Kye Rowles being one of those facing a nervous few weeks ahead of the career-defining phone call coming through.
The United States-based defender played every game at the last World Cup in Qatar, and was a regular throughout a gruelling qualifying campaign, but having initially been left out of the most recent camp – only getting a late reprieve after injury to Fran Karacic – nothing is guaranteed for the Kiama product.
Now 27, he calls DC United home having made the switch from Scotland after an impressive few seasons with Hearts.
At a recent pre-season camp in California, Rowles sat down for an interview as part of a collaboration between The Asian Game and FairPoint Football.
On why he decided to leave Scotland for DC United:
I enjoyed my time so much over in Scotland, and I made a lot of good friends and still talk to a lot of the boys there now. The club was amazing. The fans were amazing. It just kind of felt like I needed a new challenge.
You know, I push myself in a different way over there than what I am here, if that makes sense. Over there is a lot more physical and a robust league, and I felt like that was kind of not my game as such. It was a tough decision to leave, because, like I said, I loved it there, and this popped up, and I was like, what an amazing opportunity, obviously, with the World Cup being over here as well this year.
It just all kind of fell into place at the right time, which sometimes can happen and sometimes it doesn’t happen. But when it popped up, I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this could be a really cool opportunity’. And that’s why I took it.
On more Australian players moving to play in MLS and whether that helps with the World Cup in North America:
Hopefully it gives us a little bonus being used to the conditions. But look, I know all the guys are the same, it doesn’t matter where you’re playing, you just want to be playing your best football and putting your front foot forward to be able to be in the mix of that squad for the World Cup.
For me and ‘Ado’ (Aiden O’Neill) as well, because he’s a bit older with me, it’s just cool to see us come in here and start playing in the teams over here, kind of open a pathway to the clubs over here looking at players from back home and a bit younger as well.
So it’s kind of opened that pathway, which is really cool. So there’s been a new younger influx over here over the last year or two. So hopefully that keeps going as well.
On playing at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar:
It’s pretty crazy. I debuted six months earlier, and then when I first went to Scotland, I got like a 10 to 12 week injury that was right on the line. It all happened so quick. I still look back at it now and just think, like, what even happened?
But just in the games, you don’t really realise the moment and the event that’s going on. And I think all our boys were like that, so it just helped us so much. We’re just (playing) 11 other guys out there, it’s just a game, it’s not like a World Cup game we have to win. We just went out there and just worked for each other, ran our asses off, to be honest, and defended for our lives.
Hopefully we can top it (in 2026), but what we did there was really special, and it’s something that I’ll never forget. And my family was over there as well, and I’m sure they’ll never forget.
On playing the United States at their home World Cup and the reaction of his DC United teammates to the draw:
Oh, I was at home, thankfully. So I didn’t have to put up with any locker room shenanigans, so that was good (laughs). But, obviously we would have been happy with either host country (but) to be able to draw one of them is amazing.
I can’t really speak for everyone, but I assume most of the boys are thinking the same, and definitely the coaching staff and all the staff are thinking, what an opportunity we’ve got to (play) one of the host nations. For me, that’s just one of the greatest opportunities you can pretty much ever have in an international football game.
But as all media is and stuff’s going to get out and things like that, you see it, you can do whatever you want with it, but for us, we’re just going to go out there and play and may the best team win.
On Australia always being the underdog in major tournaments:
Going into these major tournaments, we get dismissed pretty quickly, which is fine with us. I mean, it happened last World Cup and all the major tournaments before that, really.
We don’t mind. We just put our head down and get to work, and go out there and get to finish the job that we set out to finish. But there is that little feeling there, like you said, to try and change that narrative and come out on the field and say, ‘you know what? Today we are the better team, so let’s play like it’ and really start to grow into that swagger of being a top nation and dominating teams.
But until we fully change that narrative, which obviously every game we’re working hard to do, we don’t mind either way, right? You know, we just go out there, head down, and we just play the game that we set out to play. And hopefully we’re the better team on the day.
On the unique features playing in MLS:
I just think the facilities, (the) stadiums are really unique. You get to play in some of the biggest football stadiums in the world. That was pretty cool, ticking a few of them off last year.
For me, the travel is normal. Playing back in Australia for five or six years, it’s exactly the same thing, and you do it all year round, not just for a hand picked couple of western conference games. So, for me, the travel is not too bad. But yeah, I think the main one is just the facilities in the stadiums.
On what is different about MLS compared to Australia and Scotland:
I think it’s very misjudged from outside countries. I definitely know from being on the outside and seeing things and hearing things from the outside, it’s taken as a bit of a joke, but you don’t really know what’s going on.
You don’t judge a book by its cover, is the old saying. And since I’ve been here, it’s not just a jolly-up league where you can jog around and have fun, it’s a tough grind, especially through summer.
And there’s a lot of fit, explosive, powerful guys here that you’ve got to try and get the better of, and then you mix that in with the qualities of some of these world class players that are moving over and it’s really, really tough.
On what the A-League can learn from MLS:
I think they should really look at MLS as a big brother and kind of follow in its footsteps. I mean, the last 10 to 20 years, the MLS has just absolutely taken off. And I think in Australia, it just lacks that bit of investment and that social drive as well for people getting to the games and things like that.
Also, it’s in the dead heat of summer, and we have kickoffs back at home, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm so it’s tough enough playing the game, but going there and sitting in the sun when it’s 30 to 35 degrees Celsius, it’s a tough slog for the fans as well.
You know, guys have really taken risks and chances over here in owning franchises and trying to push the game forward, and I’m not taking away anything from the owners back home, but it just really needs that big boom and bit of a push.
