MIDDLESBROUGH old boy Steve Vickers has hailed the influence of head coach Michael Carrick on emerging talent Riley McGree as the Australia midfielder prepares to face World Cup holders France tonight in Al Wakrah.

McGree signed off for his Qatar adventure with a sublime equaliser in Boro’s 2-1 victory over Norwich City ten days ago.

It was a piece of impressive improvisation as McGree, 24, executed a scissors-kick that stunned Carrow Road, and former Boro centre-back Vickers said: “It was very Paolo Di Canio! It was a great finish and a great result for Boro.’’

Like McGree, Vickers also played for Birmingham City, where the Aussie cut his teeth in the English game last season while on loan from MLS side Charlotte FC before his move to Teesside in January during Chris Wilder’s reign.

Vickers, who figured in Boro’s 1997 FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea, sees McGree’s involvement in the World Cup as another step in his development.

He said: “The World Cup is a great stage to be on to show what you can do – not so much as a team but as an individual as well. If you can match yourself up against some of the best players in the world, then you’re doing yourself no harm whatsoever.

“McGree looks a good prospect – I think that’s what he is at the moment. I think he took a little time to settle in and I think, when he came, they were looking to use him as a connection between defence and attack. I think he did struggle a little bit.

“But now he looks like he has some renewed confidence under Michael Carrick. Obviously, the goal he scored at Norwich just showed that really.

“He looks like quite a dynamic, mobile midfielder and that’s what Boro need, alongside someone like Jonny Howson who has the experience and will sit in there. You need someone with young legs who is going to get forward and get back, and I think that’s what McGree does.’’

In his time with Boro, Vickers was a colleague of three Socceroos stars in goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer and midfielders Paul Okon and Luke Wilkshire.

Vickers recalled: “Schwarzy was a great lad and great for Middlesbrough. And Paul was a great player, very underrated. He was the Aussies’ captain.

“There was also Luke Wilkshire, who was just a young lad and breaking through at Middlesbrough towards the end of my time there.

“At Birmingham, I played with Stan Lazaridis. He was another great Aussie lad and a good talent as well with a good left foot."