Asian Cup: Massimo Luongo insists he’s not fatigued despite being Socceroos’ mainstay
DESPITE playing all but 35 minutes of Socceroos’ seven-and-a-half-hour Asian Cup campaign, Massimo Luongo says he’s not tired heading into the final.
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HAVING missed just 35 minutes of the Asian Cup, Massimo Luongo hasn’t had a moment to feel the burden. Compared with the thick-and-fast fixtures of his League One club campaigns, played on “cow paddocks”, the intensity of a top-flight tournament is like breathing in fresh air.
Having started in all five of Australia’s games, and finished four of them, Luongo is salivating at the prospect of a final in the city where he grew up. And he won’t consider any suggestion that he might be wearied by it. Why stop now when “Sydney always delivers - a final in Sydney will be something special.”
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“Physically I am a bit tired [after a game] but I’ve got used to playing back to back games and what we have got here with the Aussie team, the recovery is going to be perfect and I am going to be good for the next game,” he said.
“Mentally, I’m just enjoying the whole thing. I think I am more overwhelmed than worrying about how tired I am mentally. I enjoy playing out there, so it’s not taking its toll. We have had an extra day of recovery on most teams but the way we prepare and recover and the professionalism that we do, we will be 100 per cent.”
It’s an adjustment both ways for the 22-year-old, switching his focus from the grind of English football to the staccato pressure of a major tournament, but not one that’s new for him.
“I have done it before - I went from the World Cup to playing friendly games [for Swindon Town] on basically cow paddocks,” he said. “I am happy to go back to all my mates but that’s still long way to go. We have a game on Saturday.”
Originally published as Asian Cup: Massimo Luongo insists he’s not fatigued despite being Socceroos’ mainstay
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