In brief
- Cristian Volpato, who made an eleventh hour switch to play for Australia, has proven his worth to the Socceroos.
- It follows years of persistence by the Socceroos, which included an offer to play at Qatar in 2022.
Cristian Volpato's last-minute decision to commit to the Socceroos is paying dividends for Australia.
The 22-year-old stunned Australian football when he switched allegiance from Italy just weeks before the World Cup in late May, having previously held out hope of a senior call-up from the Azzurri.
The change of heart followed years of persistence by Football Australia, including a trip to Italy by Socceroos coach Tony Popovic and assistant Paul Okon in March.
Now, Volpato admits he wishes he'd made the decision sooner.
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"In the first game, when we were singing the national anthem, I was getting goosebumps," he said last week.
"If I knew about this, I would have come a long time ago. So it was really good."
Volpato grew up in Sydney but is of Italian descent, and played for Italy at the youth level.
The winger made his World Cup debut just after the hour mark in Australia's 2-0 defeat to the USA, immediately injecting energy into an otherwise flat performance.
That cameo earned him a spot in the starting XI against Paraguay, where he played up front alongside Connor Metcalfe and Nestory Irankunda.
He described starting for the Socceroos for the first time as "amazing".
"It was amazing, starting the game with a full crowd, you could only see yellow jerseys," he said after the match, grinning.
But it was his combination with Jordy Bos, who filled in at right-back for the injured Jacob Italiano, that gave Australia its greatest attacking threat.
In his 58 minutes on the pitch, Volpato was exciting, linking up with Bos several times, breaking into little pockets and causing constant problems for Paraguay's defence.
In the fourth minute, Bos found Volpato who cut back to midfielder Jackson Irvine to force a save from Orlando Gill at his near post.
Volpato went on a wonderful run into the box in the 12th and arguably could have gone down under contact, while he teed up Bos for a shot that was saved in the 36th.
In first-half added time, Bos found Volpato on the overlap, and the winger cut onto his left and forced a save.
Bos described linking up with Volpato as "enjoyable".
"He's got a lot of quality so it's really easy to play with a player like that," he said in a post-match interview.
Volpato's performance was noted by former Socceroo Luke Wilkshire.
"We’ve seen early on most of our attacking threat is coming down the right side, through Jordan Bos and Volpato," he said on SBS.
"The one thing I love about Volpato, he's brave and looks to create, wants to make an impact on the game."
Okon similarly praised him at the halftime break for continually picking up balls off the opposition.
'I'm Italian and I'm Australian'
As an 18-year-old at Italian top-flight club Roma, Volpato knocked back then coach Graham Arnold's pitch to join Australia's 2022 World Cup squad.
In March, he said he was waiting for a call-up from Italy's senior team — which that month failed to qualify for the World Cup for the third time in a row — before his change of heart.
"I'm Italian and I'm Australian, so it's actually been a big decision that's always been on my head 24/7 for quite a while," Volpato said.
"It's really hard, because it's like people want you to choose something, one or the other.
"But at the end of the day, a lot of Australians were brought up being both, being something else and Australian and obviously you don't want to choose one or the other.
"But it's been hard and, obviously, I do feel Australian, so it felt really good coming in, being brought in by the boys, and speaking English — Aussie."
Volpato spent a long time talking with Popovic, who made it clear he wouldn't "beg" him to declare for Australia, and close friend Alessandro Circati — the Socceroos defender plays in Italy with Parma — about his decision.
Popovic reiterated that stance after the Paraguay match.
"Every player is important, no one is entitled to a shirt, and each game is different," he said.
Regardless, Volpato has already shown he can become a major weapon for the Socceroos.
— With additional reporting by Australian Associated Press.
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