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Graham Arnold’s Socceroos have already cemented their place in Australian sporting history by reaching the World Cup knockouts but they’re not done – and the sky’s the limit on how big they’re thinking.
“Leicester City won the Premier League (six) years ago. Anything is possible,” defender Milos Degenek said after the famous 1-0 win over Denmark in Doha on Thursday.
“Croatia made the final (of the World Cup). It’s football, these beautiful stories are written in these moments.”
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An Australian team that battled through an arduous qualifying campaign, including two sudden-death playoffs has already greatly surpassed expectations in Qatar.
They will get the chance to make history on Sunday morning (AEDT) when they face a to-be-determined opponent for a place in the quarter-finals.
“This group is special. We have got a great mix of youth and experienced players, but what we’ve been through these four years, it hasn’t been easy,” veteran defender Aziz Behich said.
“The qualification process has just made us stronger, with Covid. A lot of people were writing us off during those playoffs but we kept that noise out and what this group is capable of is, I’m not sure where it can stop.”
Asked what the win over Denmark said about Australian football to the rest of the world, striker Mitch Duke added:
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“Don’t write us off. I think there’s something now you can see, something really special building right now and I think there’s a lot to be excited about with Australian football and the players that we have.”
While refusing to put a cap on their goals, Australia’s players are also acutely aware they will need to refocus quickly with a brutal three-day turnaround before their next match against Argentina.
But the unanimous message from the players was: the job’s not finished yet.
‘You go through that wave of emotion and happiness and everything that comes with it and then you switch straight back into the dressing room and say ‘we go again,” Jackson Irvine said.
“We’ll go again. We’ll do one better. Why not? You have to believe that we’re capable and it’s possible and that’s why we are where we are now, because of that belief.
“So yeah, we’ll be there again in two, three days time to try and produce another lifetime performance.”
