The football world has rallied around young Socceroos defender Lucas Herrington after his penalty shootout miss against Egypt in the World Cup last 32, with Swedish great Zlatan Ibrahimovic emerging an unusual source of sympathy.
The retired striker is known for his arrogance and showmanship, but while presenting for Fox in the United States after the match he paid tribute to the bravery of the 18-year-old Australian.
“Penalty is like lottery,” he said. “You score, you become a hero. You don’t score, sadly, you become zero. But I just want to reach out to Herrington. You’re 18 years old, you’re young. This is just the beginning of your career. You stepping up there, you show a lot of courage. Not everybody would do that. My friend, you’re the best. Don’t listen to the rest.”
Herrington was told of Ibrahimovic’s message after the match, when he faced questions from the Australian press. “I’m probably the first one to be knocking myself down and being hard on myself, so to hear that from a legend of the game means a lot,” he said. “I’ll just keep working hard and hopefully another moment like that comes for me.”
Coach Tony Popovic defended his decision to call on the youngster at a crucial moment in the shootout. “It’s always easy to do that [question the decision] in hindsight,” he said. “I’m sure you’d be saying something else if the young kid scored, you’d probably be sitting there saying how wonderful it is, that an 18-year-old took a penalty and scored.
“He has played the last two games as an 18-year-old, so if I trust him to play in a game that we needed to get a result against Paraguay and a game that elimination was on the line, what’s the difference with the penalty?”
Socceroos midfielder Jackson Irvine had walked up to Herrington, at the end of the shootout. The veteran wanted to share something, even if he did not know quite how to put it.
“There’s not many words you can say to a player in that moment,” Irvine said after the match, the emotion of the defeat still raw. “Just so that he knows we’re there, just to look him in the eye and embrace [him] and know that that’s what this team is about – it’s a team first, and it’s not about any one player in any moment. For him to step up in that moment, this takes incredible steel, [I went up to him] just so he knows that we’re all here for him.”
The last-32 clash in Dallas against Egypt had gone all the way through 120 minutes, forcing the first penalty shootout the Socceroos have contested at a World Cup finals. Ultimately it was Egypt who progressed, winning their first World Cup knockout in an achievement that would have been Australia’s had the shootout gone the other way.
Coach Tony Popovic said it was a “tough” way to lose but this campaign showed the strength of Australian football. “At this moment right now everything is a little bit tough to take, but I’m sure every Australian is proud of the group and what they did, the growth in the tournament and tonight the effort they put in,” he said. “I’m sure their families and friends and every Australian back home who has watched will be very proud tonight.”
Irvine congratulated Egypt after the match, but said it was up to the Australian players to use the pain of this disappointment to improve. “You’ve got to allow yourself to feel it. It’s the hardest part,” he said. “To feel it all, the hurt, the disappointment, the heartbreak, all the effort and and hope that goes into today because that’s what’ll drive you forward not wanting to feel the same way again.”
Aziz Behich, who at 35 is one of the few players more experienced than Irvine, was another whose eyes were red at full-time. The defender said it was too soon to decide whether this World Cup campaign was a success or failure. “It just hurts. As a competitor, as a footballer, I’ll always be selfish and say ‘I want more’, so I look at it in that aspect,” he said. “But I think once all the dust settles, I think there’s a lot to be proud of. There’s always going to be that ‘what if’ because we’re just so close yet again.”
