SYDNEY -- Invariably in the months leading up to a World Cup, a bolter emerges. Sometimes multiple. They're the players that had been hitherto absent from speculation about the final make-up of the 26-player squad or, perhaps, considered on the fringes and requiring a particular set of circumstances to break their way for them to actually be a realistic chance of the seat on the plane. But then, through a combination of circumstance and their own talent, they force their way in. It's a narrative that transcends national teams, confederations and cultures, because, in a way, it's an underdog story: someone who has risen above the station others had assigned to them and forced their way onto the biggest stage in all of sports.
Following the first game of the Socceroos' send-off fixtures in the March international window -- a stodgy 1-0 win over Cameroon at Stadium Australia, in the opening game of a 'FIFA Series' that will now shift to Melbourne for a clash with Curacao -- two players have put themselves forward to fill this role for the Socceroos. And, fittingly enough, they both fill one of the two 'boltah' archetypes: Jacob Italiano and Lucas Herrington. Certainly, other players still have the scope to emerge in the weeks and months ahead, but after Friday evening's game, it feels like those two are the most likely that fit the bolter mould and are capable of crashing the party in North America.
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For the former, circumstances, cruel as they might be, are breaking in his favour. An opening on the right side of Tony Popovic's back three (or back five, depending on how defensive he's feeling) had already opened up following the devastating Achilles injury suffered by Lewis Miller in February, depriving the coach of what had appeared to be one of his few nailed-on starters for the World Cup. Then, Fran Karačić's subsequent withdrawal from this month's side with a foot injury -- the third straight window in which he has been named in a squad only to be forced out with injury, the first of which led to Italiano's debut -- left him as the only natural right-back left in the team.
The 23-year-old has always been seen as someone as having the potential to break into the national side, particularly given that he filled a wing-back archetype for Popovic's system that the Socceroos aren't rich in. And he'd always been highly-rated in the national setup, too, called into multiple junior teams despite spending multiple years toiling away playing in the German fourth tier with Borussia Mönchengladbach's youth. So when Karačić joined Miller in the absentee list, it meant there was an opportunity there for the taking, a chance for him to back up an impressive debut window against Canada and the United States (which Popovic and his staff have, unprompted, brought up multiple times since). By putting in another shift against the Indomitable Lions he, potentially, would go a long way towards cementing himself.
"I'd love to find another Jacob Italiano," Popovic said before the game. "Whether it's that position or another position, someone that can come through and surprise everyone and then continue with some really good form at their club."
And after taking his place in the starting XI as expected, Italiano didn't do a lot wrong in his 83 minutes. In a game where the Socceroos only really started to find attacking rhythm in the last 20 minutes, he did his part to try and spark things by bombing up and down the touchline, nabbing more touches in the Cameroonian penalty area than any other Socceroo over the length of the fixture. Wing-backs carrying an oversized creative role in Popovic's system, he was the only player credited, per Fotmob, with creating multiple chances; his delivery, amid that improved second-half performance, setting the table for Aiden O'Neill to win a penalty that could have seen the Socceroos take a 70th-minute lead, if not for Devis Epassy denying Ajdin Hrustić from the spot.
Combined with the overarching injury picture, it was a showing that means that if you were projecting the final 26-player squad right now, you'd be being contrarian if you didn't include the West Australian in your projection. After sticking it out in Europe, finally finding regular football in the Austrian Bundesliga with AK Grazer, an opportunity has emerged; one simultaneously years in the making but very sudden.
"It's one of those things where I always told myself I would try to stay in Europe and take every opportunity I could for as long as I could," Italiano said on Thursday. "It is really difficult. It is quite easy for them to kind of push it to the side, even at [Grazer], in the first season, if like, I'd be playing three or four games really well, and then maybe we'd change the coach, and then I'd be back in the stands watching. [You need] that mental toughness to keep sticking it out. I had an opportunity to go back to the A-League at the end of my [time] in Germany, and I decided against it, and I think it was the right decision.
"I wasn't really thinking too much about... being forgotten. I knew that I was playing at a good level. I knew that I was on the right track. It was just about being patient. I had a lot of good people around me as well, who were just telling me to just keep doing my thing."
For Herrington, meanwhile, the pathway to potentially starting at the World Cup, as Italiano now looks in the box seat to do, isn't as clear. And it's been just the one game. But after an assured debut, a previously fanciful place at the World Cup now has to be considered a possibility.
The 18-year-old became the youngest defender to make his starting debut for the Socceroos since Brett Woods in 1981 against Cameroon, and impressed. Alongside Alessandro Circati and Jason Geria, the teenager helped strangle the attack of an Indomitable Lions side that, while missing multiple big names and undergoing a period of soul-searching after missing the World Cup, is still one of Africa's traditional powers - rendering Maty Ryan with little to raise a sweat all night.
Looking ahead, Herrington is dealing with a centre-back position loaded with competition. Circati, Geria, Cameron Burgess, Miloš Degenek, and Kye Rowles have all been regular parts of squads during Popovic's tenure, while Kai Trewin has also come into consideration in recent months, Jack Iredale and Hayden Matthews have been on the periphery, and Harry Souttar, if fit, looms large (figuratively and literally). Nonetheless, the 18-year-old, called into the senior national team after a roaring start to life at MLS side Colorado Rapids, which in turn came after he began the A-League Men season as one of its best defenders with Brisbane, is keeping himself in with a shot.
"We had quite a hard session on Wednesday for the group," said Popovic post-Cameroon win. "And he just looked like he'd been around for a couple of camps.
"Some boys, you can see that they're -- not so much that it's physical -- it's like they're overthinking every moment. 'Oh, I made a mistake. I'm with the National Team. It's not good.'
"This kid just, you know, just gets on with it, and he looked really comfortable in the environment. I thought maybe give him some minutes in the second game. But after the training on Wednesday, I was convinced that he could start."
But if it's been a quick rise for Herrington, one that's crescendo has perhaps come in a single training session, the teen, endorphins still running high after his debut, seems well equipped to handle it.
"I've got a lot of people in my circle who have told me to keep my head down and stay humble; have that humility," he said. "Keep doing my thing on the field, but also remember that I've been lucky enough to get these opportunities, and everyone would love to be in my position."