Four years on and Rojas has the world at his feet, having developed into one of the A-League’s brightest prospects and with a hugely promising international career for New Zealand ahead of him.
He has played only a minor role in the All Whites’ Stage 3 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign so far – coming off the bench in the side’s successive wins over New Caledonia and Solomon Islands – but has already got on the scoresheet and remains a key part of coach Ricki Herbert’s plans.
The 20-year-old admits it has been frustrating to look on as his teammates have embarked on a winning opening to Stage 3 and is itching for a place in the starting line-up.
“I’ve been training hard and hopefully I will get a bit more game time to show what I can do,” he says.
Rojas’s path to this point began with his signing for the Wellington Phoenix – thanks to a scholarship organised by supporters group the Yellow Fever – at the tender age of 17. It took some time to break into the team but he soon began to forge a reputation as an exciting talent blessed with deft footwork and a sharp change of pace, assets which give him the ability to terrorise even the most seasoned of defenders.
His love affair with the Phoenix was to be short-lived, however, and early last year, just days after being announced as the club’s young player of the season, the talented teen declared he would be moving on to pastures new with three clubs believed to be in the running for his signature, including an unnamed South American side and A-League force the Melbourne Victory. He eventually decided to remain down under and signed a contract with the Victory that would keep him at the club for two years.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding his club career and the fact that he had decided to leave Wellington, Phoenix and All Whites coach Ricki Herbert handed Rojas his first international cap in a 1-1 draw with China in March of last year, confirming his rapid rise from ASB Premiership substitute to international star.
In what already looks a distinguished career that has included appearances at a FIFA U-20 World Cup and this year’s London Olympic Games, the next step is clearly to cement a starting berth with both club and country.
Rojas will look toward the Victory’s remaining pre-season fixtures and the round one clash with local rivals Melbourne Heart to stake his claim for inclusion in Herbert’s line-up for New Zealand’s double header against Tahiti, which takes place on October 12 and 16 in the next rounds of Stage 3.
“I feel really good,” he says of his progress in Australia. “We’ve been training pretty hard over at Melbourne and I’ve been playing a few games.”
Ange Postecoglou is now at the helm of the Victory and, as the new boss has a knack of developing young talent including Rojas’s international teammate Kosta Barbarouses, the dynamic winger could very well see the games coming thick and fast both domestically and internationally.
“He gives whoever is training well game time and that’s a fair way to go about things,” Rojas says. “I’m really enjoying it.”

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