Socceroos teammates were full of praise for teammate Aiden O’Neill following his dazzling debut for Australia.
The City midfielder became Socceroo Cap #629 when he was picked to start in Graham Arnold’s team, playing an important role in defensive midfield as Australia defeated Ecuador 3-1.
O’Neill’s performance didn’t go unnoticed, with his coach and teammates speaking highly of the midfielder following the final whistle.
Socceroos Head Coach, Graham Arnold, said: “I’m extremely happy, obviously, with Aiden O’Neill’s debut.”
“I thought he was very, very good. These younger boys are tapping the older boys on the shoulder which is great.”
O’Neill’s Socceroos teammate, Harry Souttar, praised the City midfielders performance following the match.
“Aiden O’Neill making his debut, you’re not going to get many better debuts than that,” Souttar said. “The future is really bright for us.”
Socceroos star Jackson Irvine was another to highlight the debut performance of his Australian teammate.
“I thought Aiden was exceptional, you can see the kid has got class, composure, wasn’t fazed,” Irvine said. “I can’t speak highly enough of his performance.”
“For the last sort of half hour where I slotted in beside him, when I played a little bit deeper when Alex came on, you just had that feeling that when you play alongside another midfielder and they’ve got a good understanding of the game. He has that already at a very young age which is very impressive.”
The Socceroos will travel to Melbourne to take on Ecuador in Match 2 of the series on Tuesday night.
FIXTURE DETAILS
Match 2
Tuesday 28 March, 7:35pm KO
Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
Broadcast: Live on 10 Bold, 10 Play and Paramount+
