JASON DE Vos believes winning promotion with Ipswich Town would be an even greater achievement than winning the Gold Cup for Canada.The Blues skipper captained his country to success in the CONCACAF tournament, which is the equivalent of the European Championships, beating Colombia in the final.

Derek Davis

JASON DE Vos believes winning promotion with Ipswich Town would be an even greater achievement than winning the Gold Cup for Canada.

The Blues skipper captained his country to success in the CONCACAF tournament, which is the equivalent of the European Championships, beating Colombia in the final. De Vos scored one of the goals in the final triumph, having earlier beaten countries like Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago along the way.

Town are now just a dozen games away from clinching a top six place and the chance to win promotion with a Wembley final victory. And De Vos reckons that will surpass the Gold Cup win, a championship title with Montreal and finishing top of League One with Wigan.

De Vos said: “Winning the Gold Cup was completely unexpected and no one in Canada expected to win that tournament so we did it as total underdogs, which was a phenomenal achievement from a group of players who produced their best form when it mattered.

“Winning the league or being promoted is a much more difficult task because it is done over a long period of time and you have to finish top two to be automatically promoted or top six for the play-offs.

“Everything is then wiped clean and you have to do everything you can to win those three games. Against West Ham a few years ago we failed to do that and that has been the biggest disappointment of my career.

“I hoping we can go one better this year and make the final and be successful.”

De Vos has said he will retire at the end of the season if he is not handed a new contract by Ipswich and is planning to do more television work, starting in the summer.

He said: “It is a possibility that I will cover Euro 2008.

“It has not been finalised and a lot depends on what happens here with Ipswich Town and the play-offs.”

Although Liam Trotter and Chris Casement have both been offered new deals this month, De Vos is among a group of senior players out of contact in the summer who have not yet been asked to stay, but he is not concerned.

De Vos said: “It is not something we have discussed. I'm fully committed to what we are trying to do and my focus has to be on these last 12 games to get into the play-offs and the prize at the end of that is a massive one.

“It is naïve to speculate on what will happen next season knowing we have 12 massive games and a possible play-off to come so it would be jumping the gun to say what we will do next season.”

“All my attention is on that and next season is next season.

“When the time is right for us to sit down and talk about a contract we will do but it is not a concern for me in the slightest right now.

“When you are younger you want to have that security for your family and what the next few years of your life entail but when you get into your mid-30s you realise football doesn't work that way and I would not expect a two- or three-year contract.

“You take it a game at a time because we are in an industry where your whole life can change in a split second.

“You only have to look at Eduardo to see how precarious it is. That was a very grim reminder for everyone who plays the game that we are very blessed and privileged to be doing what we are doing. We are only one mistimed tackle away from a horrific injury that could end your career.”

At 34, De Vos knows the best he can hope for is a one-year extension on his current deal but he is more concerned about winning promotion.

He said: “I have always played as if every game could me my last. I have always bounced back from injuries and the older you get the harder it is.”

The centre-half struggled towards the latter part of last season with a foot injury and only an operation performed by surgeon Lloyd Williams meant he could come back for this assault on promotion.

De Vos said: “The surgery I had at the end of last season was a career-saving operation. It has enabled me to play virtually pain-free, which is a massive plus for someone my age with the amount of miles I have on my legs.”

“I would not have played this season without the operation, certainly not virtually every game as I have done.

“It was almost like having a new foot put on and the success of the surgery was phenomenal and enabled me to walk and run and kick a ball pain-free.”