Beaming with pride, Aleksandar Susnjar has revealed the moment he knew he was going to make his Caltex Socceroos debut and spoken about realising his childhood dream.
Susnjar played the last 38 minutes of Saturday morning’s (AEDT) friendly defeat against Norway in Oslo to earn his first senior international cap.
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“I was very proud to play for the Socceroos. It’s a dream come true. I’ve been chasing the dream since I was young and it’s finally here,” the young defender told www.socceroos.com.au.
“Now I just have to keep proving myself to the staff and try and get the call up for the World Cup.
“The coach told me in the 47th minute to go for a warm-up because I’m coming on,” Susnjar added when asked when he knew he was going to make his debut.
“I was just concentrating on my warm up and came in with a good mindset. It’s big to debut for your country.
“The coach just said ‘play your game, mark your man on the corners and free-kicks, just play simple’ and that’s how I came in and that’s what I tried to do on the field.”
Susnjar, who plays with FK Mlada Boleslav in the Czech top flight, became the 594th player to represent Australia’s senior men’s national team.
He said he’ll be sending his first Caltex Socceroos jersey to his parents, who backed him to leave for Europe as a 13-year-old to chase his footballing dream.
And while the heavy defeat marked a tough start to his – and new coach Bert van Marwijk’s – time with the national team, Susnjar insists they must move on quickly.
“It was a difficult night for us with a 4-1 loss but we’re going to put it behind us and try and get a positive out of it,” the 22-year-old said.
“We have to move onto the next game and focus on Colombia because the World Cup is only a few months away.”
Caltex Socceroos v Colombia
WHEN: Wednesday, March 28 - kick-off 6am AEDT
WHERE: Craven Cottage, London, England
HOW TO WATCH: Live on Fox Sports and Network Ten