Socceroo defender Ryan McGowan has described his World Cup debut against Chile as a ‘whirlwind’ after being thrown on as a second half substitute for injured fullback Ivan Franjic.
Naturally a central defender, McGowan was thrust into the right-fullback role in the first few minutes of the second half against a Chilean attacking outfit spearheaded by Barcelona superstar Alexis Sanchez.
But despite playing out of position, the 24-year-old CSL based Aussie put in a solid performance and admitted the sudden nature of his injection alleviated any nerves he might have had.
“In a way it was good, no time for nerves, just getting ready make sure you know who you’re on and make sure you don’t mess up and let the team down,” he told Fox Sports.
“It was a bit of a whirlwind, it took until about the 60th minute to calm myself down and realise what I was doing.
“It was a great experience for me and something I’ll never forget.”
Australia dominated large periods of the second half against Chile and McGowan felt the Socceroos were unfortunate not to get anything from the game.
“At that stage of the game I really did believe that were going to get a goal and hopefully get another one and go on to win the game,” he said.
“So it’s devastating to come off the field at 3-1 and picking up a loss.”
The Socceroos tackle a rampant Dutch outfit on Thursday morning (AEST) fresh from a 5-1 drubbing of world champions Spain. And McGowan was bullish about Australia’s chances.
“The boss will have a game-plan for us on Wednesday that he wants us to go out and execute and it’ll be up to us to do that.
“And hopefully the world’s talking about the performance and one that’s shocked the World Cup.”
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