Captain Circati continues his rise
After helping to anchor a 1-0 win over Canada on Friday evening, Alessandro Circati says that getting the chance to skipper the Socceroos is something that he’ll never take for granted.
After helping to anchor a 1-0 win over Canada on Friday evening, Alessandro Circati says that getting the chance to skipper the Socceroos, and the show of faith in him it represents, is something that he’ll never take for granted.
With Paul Izzo preferred over regular captain Maty Ryan in goal and deputy Jackson Irvine still out with injury, Circati marked his 22nd birthday by being given the honour of captaining Australia for the second-straight time in Montreal.
It was the second game in a row that coach Tony Popovic had entrusted the youngster with the responsibility, previously making him the youngest Socceroo captain in 44 years and fourth youngest all-time when he gave him the armband in the second leg of the Soccer Ashes against New Zealand last month.
“I’m ever so grateful for it,” Circati told JDL Media. “I don’t take it for granted at all. I think it shows that [Popovic] has faith in me and that he likes, so far, what I’m doing.
“So I think that’s something to continue doing.
“But ultimately, I think Maty is, he’s the captain. I’m here just to fill in.”
One of the defensive prospects Australia has produced in decades, Circati has quickly established himself as a regular in Popovic’s squads since his rapid return from an ACL in June; the win over Canada marked his fourth start in five possible games, with the Parma defender also logging a full 90 in all those fixtures.
He and his teammates were forced to batten down the hatches against Les Rouges, absorbing 17 shots, eight of them on target, while Jesse Marsch’s side had 61% of the ball.
“But as they have proven wont to do, as well as thanks to some heroics from Paul Izzo, their low block held firm: keeping out the Canadian attack and making it 11 games unbeaten, with seven wins on the bounce, and five clean sheets in the Popovic era.
“It was a really tough game,” said Circatti. “I think they’re a great side, lots of power going forward. They’ve got some individually outstanding players on the wings and up front. But as a group, we stayed very compact. We use the opportunities that arise.
“I think we were comfortable, probably into the last 10 minutes, where they put us under a lot of pressure. That’s just how the game happens.
“But I think other than that, I think for the rest of the 80 minutes, I think it was a 50-50 game.”
Coming into the contest ranked 26 in the world by the FIFA World rankings, just one behind the Socceroos and the highest-ever in their history, Canada represented the second-best-credentialed scalp that Popovic has claimed thus far, only better by the 1-0 win over Japan in Perth in June that effectively secured World Cup qualification.
The Samurai Blue will be supplanted, however, at least as far as FIFA rankings go, if the Socceroos can follow up their win over Canada by defeating the United States in Colorado next Tuesday – Mauricio Pochettino’s side ranked 16th in the world despite an indifferent run of form as of late.
And Circatti acknowledges that it’s this quality of opposition (the Socceroos, according to reports from India, will face Lionel Messi’s Argentina on the Subcontinent next month) that will place them in good standing at next year’s World Cup.
“[Canada] was probably one of the toughest opponents, alongside Japan, that we’ve had to play in the last 12 months,” he said.
“So I think it was a great opportunity to get an understanding of what teams will face next June and July.”
Header Image: Socceroos