When 32-year-old Miloš Degenek lines up beside his Socceroos’ teammates in the tunnel at B.C. Place on Saturday, with Australia’s first game of the World Cup moments away, he’ll be wishing he was young again.
His legs are fine, the heel and ACL injuries that dogged his career are long healed, but as the whistle looms for that game against Turkey (9 p.m.), he will recognize the moment for what it is.
“Every World Cup is different. This is my third one. It’s unbelievable, you know,” said the Aussie centreback. “I dreamed of (playing in) one. I had two, I’ve got three. In four years, we’ll talk again, I’ll have four … no, I’m just kidding.
“It’s phenomenal, you know. I can’t wait for it to start, but I can’t wait to see the boys who’ve not been to one yet to see how it impacts them.
“Mate, to be honest, I think it’s a lot easier, because sometimes when you’re younger, you just don’t care, you know? The boys just go out and just like, ‘oh, it is what is, it’s just another game.’ And sometimes I wish I was like that. I wish I had that mentality.”
Group D Dynamics
Australia, ranked 27th globally, have been given the lowest odds to advance out of Group D, which also includes Paraguay (41st) and the U.S. (17th), but it might just be one of the most competitive groups in the tournament. Turkey (22nd) has a 2-2-1 record against the U.S., and is undefeated in eight games, including a run through the European World Cup playoffs. Paraguay, which also includes Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Andres Cubas, saw what was essentially their ‘B’ team lose 2-1 to the U.S. and beat Mexico 2-1 in the November window.
Experience vs. Youth
In their warm-up matches, Australia tied Switzerland 1-1 and dropped a 1-0 decision to Mexico. But this is the sixth straight World Cup they have qualified for, making it to the quarterfinals in Qatar, the same length as stay as the U.S.
Saturday will see the Socceroos face the Young Turks — a youthful, energetic Crescent Stars side with legitimate stars in the 21-year-old pairing of Arda Güler (Real Madrid) and Kenan Yildiz (Juventus). They also have 32-year-old Hakan Çalhanoğlu running the show in midfield.
It’s the first World Cup for Turkey since 2002 — which, for the arithmetically challenged, is before both Güler and Yildiz were born.
“If you look at the Turkey side, I think this is 26 players have never experienced the World Cup, and we in our squad have — what, nine players? — that already have experienced the World Cup,” said Degenek. “They’ve obviously got experienced footballers who play at the top level at the best clubs in the world and have experience of winning the Champions League and playing in Champions League football. I’m saying we’ve got a little bit more experience in terms of national team competition football.
“Playing the host nation (U.S.) first would have been phenomenal as well, with the pressure that they would have had, but I think Turkey has got a lot of pressure as well, because they haven’t been to a World Cup since 2002. There’s a lot of hope on them, and a lot of pressure, but you know we’re ready for that, definitely.”
The U.S. will take on Paraguay on Friday, and Australia will have an idea of where they sit in the group by the time kickoff rolls around at B.C. Place on Saturday.
Degenek, when asked if Australia couldn’t afford to lose, said: “We want to win every game we play. You say you can’t afford to lose the first game? You can afford to lose every game — but it’s going to cost you something.
“We want to go out on the front foot and have an impact the first 95 minutes of this game, the first game in the group, and get a really good result to set us up for the next, for the third game, and then onward and onward.
“Hopefully we have nine games until we win, and then we fly back to Aus,” he added, counting the games to the World Cup final.
