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Harry Souttar has to duck barely to enter the media zone the place a gaggle of journalists are eagerly ready, recorders already whirring.
At 198cm – one of many tallest gamers at this World Cup – the Socceroos centre-back is a dizzying presence on this small room. His standard-issue Australia tracksuit pants do not attain his ankles.
It is one of many few alternatives to get a bodily sense of what Tunisia’s gamers skilled on Wednesday in Al-Wakrah — this impervious break-wall of a person in opposition to which the white tide of their assault crashed again and again earlier than ebbing away in defeat.
Whereas Mitch Duke’s header gained the sport, Souttar (and his defensive associate Kye Rowles) offered the backbone: the central column that saved the Socceroos upright as they withstood an exhausting second half of largely defensive soccer.
His stats reveal a colossal sport: 50 touches, six clearances, 5 long-ball completions, three blocks, and a 100 per cent success charge in each floor duel he contested and each sort out he flew in for – together with that sort out, the Eighty fifth-minute second of magic that former Socceroo Harry Kewell described as “good” and which teammate Jackson Irvine mentioned the gamers “celebrated nearly as a lot because the objective.”
Alongside Rowles, Aziz Behich and Fran Karacic, he anchored a group that saved its first clear sheet in a World Cup since 1974, properly earlier than they have been all born.
And but, regardless of one of the commanding and imposing defensive performances ever seen in a Socceroos jersey, this participant that Jamie Maclaren described as a “man mountain” can also be noticeably, endearingly quiet.
Regardless of occupying a lot house in the room, journalists nonetheless must lean ahead with arms outstretched to choose up his delicate Scottish twang on their recorders.
He laughs sheepishly when requested whether or not his telephone has been blowing up with soccer golf equipment wanting his signature, regardless of this being simply his third sport since coming back from an ACL damage that saved him out for a yr.
“Naw,” he says, humbly.
“[My agent] was simply delighted for me, clearly. I share the identical agent with [Martin] Boyle, and clearly it was a bit disappointing that he missed the event, however he was actually happy for me.
“My focus has received to be right here and now. In case you ask each participant, they need to play on the highest stage they will, however my focus is solely on Denmark. I will let different individuals take care of that [future offers], I needn’t take care of that. I simply want to focus on my performances on the pitch.”
Requested about that sort out – the kind proven in slow-motion to show others do it – he instantly deflects consideration to his teammates, praising the 4 or 5 who sprinted again into the field simply in case his sliding problem did not come off.
They’re mature solutions from a participant who, at solely 24 years previous, has already established himself as an authoritative presence within the Socceroos squad.
“He is one of many first ones again within the dressing room to say, ‘we go once more’,” Irvine says.
“That is the type of individual and participant he’s. He needs to at all times push us and push all people additional. He is a frontrunner at his age already.”
It is maybe no shock given how rapidly life has come on the Stoke Metropolis defender. Rising up in a small city close to Aberdeenshire in Scotland’s north-east, Souttar left faculty at an early age to chase his footballing desires, becoming a member of the Dundee United academy earlier than making his first-team debut at 18.
The son of an Australian mom and a Scottish father, he was a part of Scotland’s youth nationwide groups alongside his older brother John, who now performs for Rangers.
Nevertheless, the 2 took a distinct path when it got here to senior worldwide soccer: whereas John has gone on to characterize Scotland, Harry as a substitute selected Australia after receiving a telephone name from Graham Arnold in 2019. He scored twice on debut for the Socceroos in a World Cup qualifier in opposition to Nepal, and has used his monumental body so as to add 4 extra to that tally since.
Though he hadn’t visited Australia till he pulled on the green-and-gold to characterize them, there isn’t any doubting his dedication to the group: it is actually inked into his pores and skin within the type of a coat of arms tattoo that sits above his cap quantity, 606.
Souttar has carried out quite a lot of rising up off the pitch in recent times, too. He spent a lot of the previous 12 months on the sideline recovering from a knee damage he sustained in a qualifier in opposition to Saudi Arabia final yr, which nearly extinguished his World Cup flame.
It was a gradual and regular return to health, because it at all times is, and he leaned closely on his household through the darker occasions – particularly John, who’s suffered three main accidents in as a few years.
“You will have your highs and you’ve got your lows. However for me, a giant a part of the rehab was talking to my brother … to see what he went by means of, my damage type of did not actually appear all that unhealthy,” Souttar instructed the Sydney Morning Herald.
“He was a fantastic assist. And likewise was everybody within the household, teammates, and folks again on the membership as properly.”
Just a few months in the past, the household banded round one another as they mourned the lack of Souttar’s late brother Aaron, an avid golfer, who handed away at age 42 after battling motor neurone illness.
Alongside the coat of arms, Harry additionally has a tattoo of Aaron – a portrait of him in full golf-swing outdoors the well-known St Andrews clubhouse – on his forearm, a day by day seen reminder of the place he is come from and who he is doing all this for.
It is quite a bit to have gone by means of at such a younger age, however Souttar credit his “previous man” for instilling in him the steadfast character that has fashioned a ballast for the Socceroos on and off the sphere on this rollercoaster World Cup marketing campaign.
“I left faculty after I was 15 and was straight into full-time soccer, simply round males, so I needed to develop up fairly rapidly,” he says.
“I feel it was simply type of an upbringing and the individuals round me shaping me into the individual I’m.”
Rowles, Souttar’s centre-back associate, is very grateful for his teammate’s level-headedness after watching him barrel throughout the sphere to sort out the escaping Taha Yassine Khenissi after Rowles had stumbled backwards into the grass.
“Wasn’t my biggest second, that is for certain,” Rowles laughs.
“Rewatching it, [Harry] swallowed him up in about three strides, so I mentioned thanks after the sport to him about 5 occasions. I feel I owe him a pair after that, for certain.
“Full credit score to H, what he is carried out. He is been out for 12 months or so, and to play like he did and again up in 4 days is simply monumental.
“At such a younger age, he is received an terrible lot of expertise at worldwide stage already.
“He simply says to maintain calm and play your sport. That instils quite a lot of confidence in myself to listen to these sorts of phrases from a participant akin to him; he is simply principally at all times speaking to me.
“And vice-versa for myself: simply at all times to be switched on and within the second and understanding the place your man is, going into tackles, profitable balls, not being scared to step in as a result of you already know he is gonna be there behind me and I am gonna be there for him as properly.”
Whereas Denmark poses a distinct type of problem to Tunisia, Australia can relaxation assured that within the light large fondly nicknamed “Massive Harry Souttar” by his blossoming on-line fanbase, they’ve a participant able to standing up – actually and metaphorically – to the duty. He will likely be there for all of us. Even when he won’t need to discuss it.
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