Socceroos: Milestone man Trent Sainsbury in tears after helping Australia to an eighth straight win

An emotional Trent Sainsbury was in tears after the Socceroos made it eight straight wins with victory over Jordan.

The Socceroos celebrate Harry Souttar’s goal against Jordan. Picture: Yasser Al-Zayyat / AFP

Socceroos defender Trent Sainsbury has shed tears after helping Australia achieve perfection on the road to next year’s World Cup.

Making his 50th appearance for the Socceroos, Sainsbury was a rock in defence in Australia’s 1-0 win over Jordan on Wednesday morning in Kuwait City.

The victory, secured by a headed 77th-minute winner from Sainsbury’s fellow centre-back Harry Souttar, was the Socceroos’ eighth from eight games, giving them a perfect record of 24 Group B points in the second round of Asian Football Confederation World Cup qualifiers.

“It’s an unbelievable achievement.” former Central Coast Mariners centre-back Sainsbury said.

“It’s such a strong group we’ve got here and the belief’s unbelievable.”

An emotional Sainsbury was in tears post-match as he reflected on achieving 50 games for the Socceroos after a serious knee injury seven years ago while playing for Belgian club PEC Zwolle nearly ended his career.

“I think how lucky I was to get one, and to get 50 is a pretty big thing, but at the same time I just love being part of this team, this family, with the boys.” he said.

“I think I was a good shout to go to the 2014 World Cup, (but) busted my knee open. I broke my knee cap. I thought my career was finished.

“I’m just grateful to be amongst it with the boys.”

How it started How it's going

In 2014, Trent Sainsbury was eyeing the @FIFAWorldCup with @Socceroos before injury dashed his dream.

He recovered, won the @afcasiancup, & played at the 2018 World Cup.

Today, was his 50th Socceroos game - but certainly not his last 👏💚💛 pic.twitter.com/mrA7Pye8NO

— Socceroos (@Socceroos) June 16, 2021

Scotland-born Souttar, who has an amazing record of six goals in five Socceroos appearances, was full of praise for Sainsbury.

“He’s been brilliant to me since I came into camp,” Souttar said.

“He’s one of the boys that the young boys look up to. He sets a real good example for everyone to follow.

“To play beside him makes my job a lot easier.”

The Socceroos now move on to the third round of qualifiers – scheduled to start in September – along with Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Japan, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, China, Oman, Iraq, Vietnam and Lebanon.

The 12 teams will be split into two groups of six, with the top two in each group to be guaranteed a berth in next year’s World Cup in Qatar.

Sainsbury said: “We’re going to stick to our principles and play the way that we want to play, play at our speed, play at our tempo, and get the win wherever we go and against whoever we play.”

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold also had a warning for Australia’s future rivals.

“I reckon we’re at about 25 per cent of where we’ll end up,” Arnold said.

Australia 1 (Harry Souttar 77’) d Jordan 0 at Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium, Kuwait City.

Socceroos: Mat Ryan (c), Rhyan Grant (Fran Karacic 90+3’), Trent Sainsbury, Harry Souttar, Milos Degenek, Aziz Behich, Kenny Dougall (James Holland 70’), Jackson Irvine, Ajdin Hrustic (Riley McGree 83’), Martin Boyle (Awer Mabil 83’), Jamie Maclaren (Adam Taggart 70’).

Originally published as Socceroos: Milestone man Trent Sainsbury in tears after helping Australia to an eighth straight win