FIFA World Cup 2022: Milos Degenek discusses strong bond within Socceroos and how he approached daunting task of marking Lionel Messi
Milos Degenek struggled to speak through the tears. When he did, writes ADAM PEACOCK, he spoke from the heart about his ‘band of brothers’.
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Milos Degenek is a man of many words. Confident, loud, the life of the group with the trademark ‘lion mentality’ he has carried throughout the World Cup.
This morning’s heartbreak brought out another side.
Two minutes into his interview with Australian media after the Socceroos galling defeat to Argentina, Degenek was overcome with emotion. He burst into tears as he described what these two weeks, and the entire campaign, has meant to him.
“It’s disappointing that we lost, and … I don’t know how to say this, but I’d love it if you guys backed us, and no-one wrote a bad word about anyone … and just stood by the boys ...”
And he could get out no more.
Tears streamed down his face.
“It’s gonna stick with us forever,” Degenek said later. “I just hope we made the people proud. I hope it inspires the next generation of kids. Wish we won, made everyone more proud.”
He paused for a moment, then was asked why he was so emotional.
“I love the game. It’s given me everything,” Degenek said, the tears restarting.
“Dreams come true. It’s just hard. Back the boys, we’ll do more next time.”
Degenek has achieved enough just by getting to professional football. As a toddler, his family fled the Balkans War during the 1990s and arrived in western Sydney with few possessions and no English.
Football gave him an opportunity in life and he has taken it with both hands.
He has played in the Champions League and a World Cup.
For all the teams he has represented on a journey that has included stints in Germany, Serbia, Japan, Saudi Arabia and now America, this Socceroos squad is the greatest collective he has been involved with.
“Doesn’t matter that I wasn’t born in Australia, it doesn’t matter that I’m not 100% Aussie, I feel it. I feel it through these guys,” Degenek said.
“I’d love to stay with these boys for another two weeks. It’s a band of brothers. It’s more than friends.”
Once the tears stopped, Degenek spoke clearly about the man he was assigned to help mark: the incomparable Lionel Messi.
“It’s hard to keep the best player that’s ever played the game out of the game,” he said. “We did everything we could.
“If we equalised we could have knocked them out. It’s a testament that we came this far. I hope they win it, so we can say we got knocked out by the winners.”
Originally published as FIFA World Cup 2022: Milos Degenek discusses strong bond within Socceroos and how he approached daunting task of marking Lionel Messi
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