AUSTRALIAN cricket legend Steve Waugh has been advising Newcastle new-boy Mark Viduka as he wrestles with his dilemma over retiring or staying on to lead Australia into the next World Cup in 2010. As Australian cricket captain Waugh was under enormous scrutiny, especially at the end of his career when his future as captain became the subject of fierce public debate. The situation is not too dissimilar to Viduka’s who at the age of 31 was persuaded to shelve retirement plans by Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, who is also trying to convince the Newcastle striker that he should extend his international career for another three years. “Everyone goes through the retirement issue in their career, but it is not a simple thing,” said Waugh. “People say you will wake up and you will know when you want to retire. “I think it rarely happens like that. Most people juggle with it. “Some mornings you wake up and you think “I love playing for Australia, I want to be here every day”, and other days you will think “I miss the kids, and my form’s not too good and am I really doing the right thing”. “That’s a natural progression that happens with everyone. “I think Mark was pretty honest about his initial doubts over playing in the Asian Cup, and I don’t think it will affect his performances. “I have been through it and I know what it’s like. I don’t think that every minute he will be saying to himself it’s fantastic, it’s great, but most of the time he will and that’s what you want.” Meanwhile, Viduka has admitted it was a relief to score his first Socceroos’ goal in almost 21 months after his double-strike and man-of-the-match performance against Singapore over the weekend. “I didn’t get a sniff on goal at the World Cup so to come here before the start of the Asian Cup and get a couple is great,” Viduka said. “I felt I played very well in the World Cup and did everything I had to do apart from scoring. “And it does bother you. As a midfielder or defender it wouldn’t, but as a striker it does.” | 
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