Socceroos substitute Jason Cummings is dissecting his World Cup debut when the eye of the room briefly diverts to French megastar Kylian Mbappe, who slides previous him on the way in which out of Al Janoub Stadium.
“There he’s, the primary man,” Cummings says in his thick Scottish accent
It’s a ‘pinch your self’ second for the 27-year-old, who solely a yr in the past couldn’t get a begin for Dundee United within the Scottish Premier League earlier than a swap in allegiances, and to the A-League, set his profession on a brand new course.
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“What are you going to do about that?” | 00:38
“It’s simply unbelievable,” Cummings mentioned. “These are world class gamers that you simply watch on the TV, one of the best of one of the best. It’s an absolute privilege to share the pitch with these guys.”
Getting recreation time within the largest soccer match on earth was a proud second nevertheless it was a baptism of fireside for the striker.
Brought on within the 56th minute with Australia trailing 3-1, Cummings struggled to make an influence because the reigning world champions completely dominated proceedings.
His efficiency drew some fierce criticism. Former Socceroos goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac mentioned he was “minging” and “non-existent”.
“We principally performed with ten males when he got here on,” Kalac mentioned.
Cummings’ account wasn’t all that completely different, although it got here with a wholesome diploma of context.
“Sometimes you’ve simply bought to carry your fingers up and admit, it’s France, it’s one of the best group. There’s ranges to this recreation they usually confirmed that within the second half,” Cummings mentioned.
“It was irritating. Obviously we have been shedding on the time (I got here on) so we’d try to press try to try to get there.
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“At instances I felt like I used to be chasing shadows a bit, attempting to press their backs, they saved rotating.
“… It’s clearly irritating as a striker. I wished to try to get a aim, a possibility. Try and create possibilities and I felt like we have been chasing them lots and once we gained the ball again , we have been too drained to do one thing with it.”
With Australia needing to be optimistic in opposition to Tunisia (Saturday night time AEDT) and Denmark, Cummings might nonetheless have a key function to play and he’s backing himself to make an influence.
“If I get the possibility (to attain), it’s the identical aim, the identical ball. It doesn’t matter who the gamers are,” he mentioned.
“The distinction is the possibilities don’t come alongside as usually, particularly within the A-League I’m getting three, 4 possibilities a recreation and the objectives are glowing.
“(Against France) you may see you’re fortunate to get a contact of the ball, by no means thoughts a shot on aim, nevertheless it was expertise.
“.. I’m grateful I bought that chance. The end result has dampened the temper just a little, however there’s nonetheless two huge video games forward.”
