Socceroos representatives Mark Birighitti, Craig Goodwin and Adam Taggart returned to Newcastle Jets training on Tuesday and spoke about their experiences representing Australia at the EAFF East Asian Cup in Korea Republic.
Socceroos representatives Mark Birighitti, Craig Goodwin and Adam Taggart returned to Newcastle Jets training on Tuesday and spoke about their experiences representing Australia at the EAFF East Asian Cup in Korea Republic.
The trio were among five Jets players who featured for the Socceroos at the tournament, along with Ruben Zadkovich and Josh Brillante.
Zadkovich played 90 minutes in Australia-s opening two matches against Korea Republic and Japan, while Goodwin became the 562nd player to be capped for the Socceroos when he came on as an 88th minute substitute for Matt McKay against the Blue Samurai.
Birighitti and Brillante both made their international debuts in the Socceroos- final match against China, while Adam Taggart came on as second-half substitute and scored the Socceroos- second goal of the contest, taking his tally in the green and gold to three goals in four matches.
Goalkeeper Mark Birighitti was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to earn his first international cap with the Socceroos.
“It has been a dream of mine since I was a young kid to represent my country and to do it at the East Asian Cup was a fantastic experience.
“The results we had were a bit disappointing, but to get my first international cap was a very special thing for me personally and something I-ll cherish for the rest of my life.
“I was quite happy with the way I played, even though I copped four goals, I don-t think I could have done much more on either of those chances.
“I-ve been lucky enough to represent Australia in the Joeys, the Under 20-s and the Olyroos, but nothing beats representing the Socceroos at senior level.”
Goodwin was similarly extremely humbled to be given the chance to play on the international stage and hoped he could use the experience to take his game to another level.
“Representing your country is the biggest honour you can have in sport and I-m very happy to have had that opportunity.
It-s just the start though, and obviously I-ve just got to keep working hard at Newcastle, keep progressing and hopefully I can work my way into a few more Socceroos squads.
“We all had good seasons last year, which is why we were selected for this tournament with the Socceroos, so hopefully we can step it up again and do even better.
You never know what could happen. If we have a good season in the A-League, there-s no reason why we can-t pinch a spot in the squad for the World Cup, but I think it-s up to us as players to perform at that level now.”
Taggart had represented the Socceroos previously and hoped he could maintain his fine scoring record in the national colours at future tournaments.
“It was another great experience and another great learning curve for myself and the other boys and it has really got me looking forward to the season with the Jets now.
“To come off the bench and get a goal was really great for me. It was a pretty easy chance to put away, but scoring goals is always good for a striker-s confidence and it doesn-t matter how you score them.
I thought the team did really well to grind out those last few minutes and score a couple of goals, but unfortunately we fell one short in the end.”
