Striker Adam Taggart is still pinching himself after being included in the Socceroos’ final 23-man squad for the World Cup. Taggart did enough to convince Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou he deserved to remain in Brazil after first putting his name forward with a stellar A-League season.
The 21-year-old Newcastle Jets player finished with the competition’s Golden Boot after firing home 16 goals and is set to feature prominently in the Socceroos’ forward set-up. No matter how Postecoglou uses him, Taggart is thrilled to be part of a World Cup. “It’s something as a little kid you can only dream of and something as a footballer you’re continuously working towards,” he said.
“It’s the biggest competition you can be involved in. To be given an opportunity in the squad is something words can’t describe and something I’ll be forever grateful for.”
Taggart said the World Cup wasn’t on his radar when the season started. “You know personally what you can do and there are certain goals you set and targets you want to meet throughout the season,” he said.
“But something like this is something I probably never thought of. It probably wasn’t even in the back of my mind. My full concentration was on the season, developing and learning and that’s always been a focus point of my mind. I definitely think it’s something that’s helped me the past 12 months.”
While Taggart will realise his world Cup dream, Tom Rogic, Mark Birighitti, Luke Wilkshire and Josh Kennedy will watch from the sideline after they were cut from the Socceroos squad yesterday. Posetcoglou said the final cull was difficult to oversee but that he had faith in the players left in Brazil. “We’ve selected a squad that can do Australia proud and they will walk onto the pitch for the World Cup in the green and gold shirt,” he said.
Australia will play a friendly against Croatia on Saturday before starting its World cup campaign against Chile on June 14.
