By Vince Rugari
To cap or not to cap? That’s the question Australian football fans were asking themselves when Cristian Volpato, a player once deemed not good enough by two A-League clubs, broke through for his senior debut at AS Roma in December.
It’s not a question anymore. Now that Volpato has scored his first Serie A goal, it’s an imperative.
Socceroos prospect Cristian Volpato scored his first Serie A goal against Hellas Verona.Credit: Getty
But would he actually accept a call-up from the country of his birth, where he lived his whole life and learned how to play the game until two years ago? Or will he hold out for the country of his heritage to knock at his door - the one that picked him up after his knockbacks from Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers and gave him another chance?
The Socceroos have do-or-die World Cup qualifiers coming up in a month’s time against Japan and Saudi Arabia, and with incredible pressure mounting on coach Graham Arnold, it’s not exactly the ideal environment for an untried 18-year-old to be given his first taste of senior international football.
There is, however, an all-time shortage of Aussies plying their trade in Europe’s top five leagues, and increasing concern over Australia’s ability to develop players who can make the difference in the final third.
So when a teenager, born and bred in Sydney’s inner-west, is summoned off the bench by Jose Mourinho and scores a goal - the first by an Australian in Serie A since Mark Bresciano in 2009 - for one of Italy’s biggest clubs, the Socceroos simply have to take a closer look.
And they’ve got to do it quickly, because time is now of the essence. Volpato is the youngest player to have found the back of the net in Serie A this season, and Italian media outlets are going crazy over the way he and another Roma academy product, Edoardo Bove, sparked their comeback from two goals down against Hellas Verona to draw 2-2.
One website described him as a “revelation”, while others immediately drew comparisons between Volpato and his agent, Francesco Totti, the greatest player in AS Roma’s history and the man who drove home the contentious penalty that knocked the Socceroos out of the 2006 World Cup.
Totti watched Volpato score his goal from the stands at Stadio Olimpico. In his post-match interview, Volpato described him as a “big brother” figure who was always offering him advice. He plays in the same position as Totti did, wears his famous No.10 jersey in Roma’s primavera team, and is already part of Italy’s junior national team system, having been picked for the under-19 Azzurrini last year before withdrawing due to injury.
Cristian Volpato with Italy and Roma legend Francesco Totti, who is also his agent.
It’s hard to see him getting a senior cap for the Euro 2020 champions in the immediate future, sure - but it’s not hard to imagine him now becoming further ensconced in the alluring world of Italian calcio after this match-turning goal and performance, with mentors like Totti and Mourinho surely encouraging him to keep his options open for as long as possible.
So it’s now up to Football Australia, which has already made repeated inquiries with Volpato and his family over his long-term international allegiances, to do whatever it takes to win him over and show him why he should commit to the Socceroos.
But that’s not all. It’s crucial FA examines in close detail the reasons why Volpato’s promise was only recognised in Italy and not in his homeland.
Sydney FC and the Wanderers may well have been right to move Volpato on at the time.
Development is not always linear, and sometimes rejection at a young age can spur a player onto the next level. Volpato also had a growth spurt between his A-League academy experiences and when the Australasian Soccer Academy, a private entity, brought him to Roma’s attention at age 16 during a tour of south-east Asia.
For a creative midfielder, a slightly stronger body could have made all the difference.
Cristian Volpato gets some final instructions from Jose Mourinho before entering the fray.Credit: Getty
Whatever happened, the game needs to know for sure, and to make sure it doesn’t happen again. The recent struggles of the Socceroos and Matildas have shone a much-needed light on Australia’s talent ID and development structures, and Volpato’s rise, on face value, is a poor reflection.
As the recent transfers of Olyroos stars Nathaniel Atkinson, Cammy Devlin, Denis Genreau, Joel King and now Connor Metcalfe to European clubs shows, it’s not all bad - but for every one of them, there’s a player like Volpato, Alou Kuol, Mary Fowler or Massimo Luongo, who kicks on despite the system, not because of it.
It would be a disaster if Volpato snubbed the green and gold for Italy’s blue. But it would be a bigger disaster if Australia doesn’t fully understand why, and ensures that no others like him are lost to the country.