KEY POINTS:
Simon Elliott hasn't had much to look forward to over the past couple of years.
Partial tears of his Achilles (one on each foot) robbed him of any chance of adding to his 12 Premiership games for Fulham and the club weren't prepared to offer the 34-year-old a
new contract.
He is in the footballing wilderness, with no club and little idea what his future holds.
Despite this, he seems to be in a good space. After all, he's fit for the first time in two years and he's about to play at the Olympics as one of New Zealand's three over-age players.
Elliott won't admit it but a series of good performances in Beijing might help him secure a new contract and prolong a professional career that started in the US with Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS in 1999.
"I would like to go back [to England] and be involved somewhere," he says from Indonesia soon after teaming up with the Olywhites.
"I realise that when most teams look at me it doesn't look good. I'm an older player and I've been injured for some time. Hopefully some teams scratch beneath the surface and as the transfer window starts to close I can sneak in somewhere.
"There's still exciting times ahead for me. I've got the Olympics and a World Cup campaign around the corner and for me it's a thrill just to be playing again because for a while it looked like I would have to hang the boots up. I feel I have been given a second chance and I want to make the most of it.
"I don't like to think of putting myself in the shop window [at the Olympics] because that's the wrong way to approach it. That is a by-product of being in a good environment and a team that does well.
"If the team does well, people will take notice."
Elliott has not always been the most fashionable of players and many expressed surprise when he was signed by Fulham in January 2006.
But he rarely lets a side down and is one of 24 to play more than 50 games for the All Whites - even though it is more than four years since his last international - and one of only four New Zealanders to have played in top-flight English football.
It's why Olywhites coach Stu Jacobs plumped for him to be among his three over-age players alongside Ryan Nelsen and Chris Killen, despite the fact he played only a handful of Fulham reserve team games towards the end of the English season.
Jacobs is hopeful of progressing out of a group that also involves China, Brazil and Belgium and believes his three over-age players could be the difference.
If they could advance, it would be the first time a New Zealand side had achieved it at a world tournament.
"Our sights are firmly set on beating China in our opening game [on August 7], and with Simon, Ryan and Chris that's within touching distance," Jacobs said. "They can help take the other players ability and performance to the next level."
In the past fortnight, the Olywhites drew a two-game series with Chile in Wellington, were beaten 3-2 by the Australian Olympic side and then beat the A-League runners-up, Central Coast, 2-1.
They have a three-game tour of Indonesia starting with a match against club side PSMS Medan in Jakarta tonight. They the Indonesian national side on Thursday and another club side, Persija, on Saturday.
Elliott was impressed by what he found when he joined camp on Friday evening and knows the onus will be on him to play a key role.
"It's a privilege to be one of the over-age players because there are a lot of good ones out there now - and I have to take the role seriously," Elliott says.
"These guys have been working hard for a long time and been through qualifying and camps so it's important we do everything we can to be a part of the team."
You can be sure Elliott will be doing his utmost to fit in. After all, it's been too long since he felt like being a part of a team.
