Garang Kuol believes Australia will one day be a major force to be reckoned with in international football and revealed rubbing shoulders with Lionel Messi felt ‘like a dream’.
The 18-year-old became the youngest player to appear in the knockout stages of a World Cup since Pele in 1958 when he came on as second half substitute against Argentina on Sunday morning (AEDT).
And the teenager was inches away from becoming the youngest player to score in the knockout stages of the tournament since the Brazilian legend.
His 96th minute effort, however, was saved by Emiliano Martinez as Argentina ended the Socceroos’ involvement in the tournament.
Australia arrived in Qatar as ranked outsiders in Group D, but rebounded from a 4-1 drubbing against France in the opening game to reach the Round of 16 for the first time since 2006.
The Socceroos won two games at the World Cup for the first time in their history and kept two clean sheets, after going without conceding just once in their five previous appearances at the tournament combined.
And Kuol, who will move to the Premier League next month to join Newcastle United, believes their performances are a sign of things to come.
‘The sport in Australia keeps growing and keeps producing better and better players as time goes by,’ he said.
‘In the future you will see a team that is at the same level as Argentina, Brazil and all those teams.’
An unused substitute in the wins over Tunisia and Denmark, Kuol played only 34 minutes at the World Cup as he came off the bench against France and Argentina.
Despite the limited chances, however, the Central Coast Mariners forward got to share the pitch with Messi on Sunday.
And he admitted he was still struggling to get his head around coming face-to-face with the Argentinian great.
‘Going one-on-one with Messi for a bit – unreal, I could say a dream,’ he said.
Messi marked the 1,000th game of his career in style, scoring Argentina’s opener, which was his ninth World Cup goal and his first in the knockout stages of the tournament.