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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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The FIFA Men's World Cup is underway and Australia's Socceroos are off to a great start, winning their first match against Turkey last weekend. Soccer fans will know that the squad has quite a few new faces in the mix with some remarkable stories behind them. But there are a lot of Aussies who are hearing their names for the first time.
So in this quiz shortcut, we'll get you across some of the players making news and their paths to the World Cup. Quiz Shortcuts is the backstory to the big news stories. I'm Alice Dempster. And I'm Larissa Huntington. Larissa, squizzers who listen to our shortcuts regularly will know that we've already covered the FIFA World Cup in detail before it kicked off.
But in this one, we're zooming in on our Aussie side and getting to know them a bit better.
Yeah, lots of questions after our first big win. And as you said, lots of fresh faces that we don't know much about. So we're not really known as a huge soccer nation in Australia, but the World Cup ties together lots of things that Aussies can't resist. We love a bandwagon. I mean, just think back a couple of months ago to the Winter Olympics and how we all became instant curling experts.
And we also love an underdog story, which we're considered to be in this tournament. So, of course, with a big win under our belt over Turkey, we've jumped straight on board everything World Cup.
Yeah, a sports win is the way to our hearts. And when we say there's some fresh faces, this is the first World Cup for 17 players out of our 26-man squad.
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Chapter 2: What is the Socceroos' current status in the World Cup?
That tends to happen with our top soccer talent here because we can't really compete with the money being offered overseas. Our clubs here have salary caps and players can easily earn about five times what local clubs can offer overseas.
So let's get into it, starting with Iren Kunda. He's the 20-year-old who scored our first goal against Turkey. Anyone who's watched his matches knows that he can moonwalk and also backflip, also score goals. But his backstory has also been making headlines since the match too.
Yeah, it sure has. He was born in a refugee camp in Tanzania in 2006 after his family fled the civil war in Burundi, and that's a landlocked country below Rwanda in Africa. The family migrated to Australia when he was just three months old and lived in Perth for a while before settling in Adelaide in 2013. And he's one of eight children.
Yeah, his siblings had a big influence on him. He says that they're part of the reason he's a professional soccer player today. Money was tight in his family and because they couldn't afford the registration fees, two of his big brothers actually stopped playing club soccer so that Nestory, or Ness to his family, could continue playing.
Yeah, his sister tells this great story about how he used to dribble the ball past them and their friends when he was just eight and they were all around 14. So it wasn't long before he was on the junior pathway to the A-League, which is the highest level professional men's league in Australia, where he joined Adelaide United.
He made his debut as a 15-year-old there and he immediately started getting noticed internationally for his long-range goals and his famous backflip celebrations of them. He spent three seasons there and during that time he was scouted by a German club called Bayern Munich and that led him to moving to Germany when he turned 18.
And from there, he moved to the English championship side, Watford, in July last year, where he's had more consistent match time than in Germany. He's racked up four goals and five assists, which earned him a green and gold jumper in the Socceroos, playing in this World Cup, which he says has always been his dream.
So amazing for him to have scored a goal on his debut there. Those in the know say next up for him could be the English Premier League. If you know English soccer or you've watched any Ted Lasso perhaps, that's a step up from the Championship League.
Everton and Crystal Palace are in talks with Watford to sign him and that transfer fee could be up to 20 million euros, which is about 32.5 million Australian dollars. And if you're thinking that sounds like a lot, it would make him the most expensive Australian soccer player in history.
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Chapter 3: Who are the new faces in the Socceroos squad?
And a big part of that has to do with Italy not qualifying for the World Cup. He said that he was hoping to play for them. And the backstory to all of this is that he left Australia after he was let go from some of the youth academies of Sydney. But he went on to achieve success under the wing of AS Roma's manager, Jose Mourinho. If you're a soccer fan, you'll definitely know that name.
And as he mentioned, Volpato was holding out for a place in an Italian World Cup team. And he previously turned down a spot to represent Oz in the last World Cup. So it made a lot of headlines this time when he lodged his FIFA paperwork at the 11th hour to play for us.
So all that to say, there'll be lots of people watching to see how he goes. And while we're talking through the new faces, the baby of the squad is 18-year-old defender Lucas Harrington. A year ago, he was playing for the Brisbane Roar, but he made his Socceroos debut earlier this year, and he's already started in several games for the Colorado Rapids in U.S. Major League Soccer.
Yeah, he's in the squad, and that doesn't necessarily guarantee a start. But if he does start, he'll be the youngest player to ever do so in a World Cup match for Australia. And on the other end of the experience scale, Alice, is Harry Soutar. Soccer fans will remember that he was one of our star players in Qatar four years ago. But since then, he's been struggling with some injuries.
He's had an injury to his Achilles, and he's had a lot of time on the sidelines. So just getting another Guernsey is a bit of a comeback story in itself.
And then another one to keep an eye on, Larissa, is our second goal scorer who sealed the deal against Turkey, Conor Metcalf. He's a 26-year-old from Newcastle and his goal made him the 11th player to score for Australia in a World Cup. So that tells you how rare and significant the team's performance against Turkey was.
And then there are the two men who hold a lot of experience for the side, Captain Matt Ryan and winger Matthew Leckie.
Yes, both the Mats are appearing in their fourth World Cup, which puts them alongside Socceroos greats Tim Cahill and Mark Milligan. And Ryan made his World Cup debut in Brazil in 2014, and Leckie was there too. And they've been part of every World Cup Australia's qualified for over the past 12 years.
And with so many debutants around them, they're definitely helping to usher in the next generation.
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