World Cup 2018: Socceroos bolter Daniel Arzani on making the cut, facing his heroes and his journey to Russia
THE youngest player at the World Cup, Daniel Arzani has been tagged as arrogant or cocky. But the Socceroos bolter’s journey from Iran has given him something every elite player needs: confidence.
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DANIEL Arzani gave up the game with his very first answer in front of a packed media press conference in Kazan.
Just 48 hours after coming off the bench to make his World Cup debut, the 19-year-old Socceroo was asked to reflect on what the special moment meant for him.
“Umm, Jesus Christ, this is pretty cool,” he said through a beaming smile.
Despite Arzani’s career being in its infancy, the Iranian-born winger has already been given the moniker as an arrogant, cocky footballer, and you can understand why.
The Melbourne City star is the youngest player at this World Cup and believed he would be selected before he’d even made a senior starting appearance in club football. He had two countries fighting for his allegiance and is on track to become Australia’s first $2 million player after the tournament.
Look past that and you see that, actually, he’s just a kid living his dream.
“It’s definitely surreal. It hits you how the extraordinary becomes the ordinary for you. You walk out onto the pitch and (Antoine) Griezmann is over there and (Paul) Pogba is over there.”
“You get goosebumps. The biggest moment for me was at the beginning of the game. I’m looking around and you see all these Aussie fans and yellow shirts everywhere. You’re singing the national anthem and you heart is pumping through your chest.
“It kind of loses its glamour a little, because you’re kind of used to it now,” he adds.
There’s the inflated confidence from a player with just three Socceroos caps to his name, not that Arzani minds being called cocky.
“I’m confident in what I do. It’s what I’ve been doing my whole life,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter who I came up against. I just want to be me, do the best that I can. Some people take that as me being cocky, but I’m just happy to do me.”
Arzani — who is expected to get more game time in Thursday’s clash with Denmark — credits his upbringing in Iran for his style and says it made him the player and person he is today.
“Growing up and playing on the streets of Iran you have to have that confidence or you’ll get eaten alive, “ he said.
“You have to believe in yourself, even when you make a mistake. That’s where I get a lot of my confidence from.”
And if the 19-year-old starts getting too big for his boots, there’s personalities in the Socceroos dressing room ready to bring him back down to earth.
“You get a couple of the older boys in the team. Maybe they’ve heard things about you and want to show you who’s boss,” he said.
“It’s all OK, they give me the tough love when I need but also put their arm around me when I need it.”