Football: Melbourne Victory winger Marco Rojas torn between club and country

Marco Rojas celebrates during the Melbourne Victory's win over Bentleigh Greens in the FFA Cup. Photo / Getty Images

Gun winger Marco Rojas says he is torn between club and country loyalties that have already ruled him out of Melbourne Victory's season-opener against Brisbane on Friday night.

But the New Zealand international insists he will be putting his hand up to play in the hugely anticipated Melbourne Derby in Round 2, despite the fact he will only arrive home from the United States the day before.

Rojas has been selected in the All Whites squad to face Mexico on Saturday and the USA next Tuesday.

The 24-year-old will also miss the Round 6 home game against Western Sydney should he be called upon for international duty again next month.

Rojas aside, Victory has a full list to choose from for Friday's Suncorp Stadium showdown.

"I'll be back from the States the day before the derby," Rojas said.

"I really want to play, I don't want to miss that game, but we'll see, that's (coach Kevin Muscat's) decision.

"It's a difficult situation, pretty much everywhere else has the international breaks so you don't miss any games.

"It's frustrating that I'm going to be missing Round 1, but they're going to be big games for us in the United States."

Rojas won the 2012-13 Johnny Warren Medal in what was his second and final season for Victory before leaving for VfB Stuttgart.

During an injury-marred European adventure he was loaned out to German second division club SpVgg Greuther Fürth and then most recently to FC Thun in Switzerland, where he played 28 games in 2015-16.

"So I did get a complete season in Europe and that was a good experience," he said.
"But obviously that last season I was here at Victory was something else and I'm hoping to replicate something along the lines of that."