Socceroos substitute Jason Cummings is dissecting his World Cup debut when the attention of the room briefly diverts to French megastar Kylian Mbappe, who slides past him on the way out of Al Janoub Stadium.
“There he is, the main man,” Cummings says in his thick Scottish accent
It’s a ‘pinch yourself’ moment for the 27-year-old, who only a year ago couldn’t get a start for Dundee United in the Scottish Premier League before a switch in allegiances, and to the A-League, set his career on a new course.
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“What are you going to do about that?” | 00:38
“It’s just unbelievable,” Cummings said. “These are world class players that you watch on the TV, the best of the best. It’s an absolute privilege to share the pitch with these guys.”
Getting game time in the biggest football tournament on earth was a proud moment but it was a baptism of fire for the striker.
Brought on in the 56th minute with Australia trailing 3-1, Cummings struggled to make an impact as the reigning world champions totally dominated proceedings.
His performance drew some fierce criticism. Former Socceroos goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac said he was “minging” and “non-existent”.
“We basically played with ten men when he came on,” Kalac said.
Cummings’ account wasn’t all that different, though it came with a healthy degree of context.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to hold your hands up and admit, it’s France, it’s the best team. There’s levels to this game and they showed that in the second half,” Cummings said.
“It was frustrating. Obviously we were losing at the time (I came on) so we’d try and press try and try and get there.
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“At times I felt like I was chasing shadows a bit, trying to press their backs, they kept rotating.
“… It’s obviously frustrating as a striker. I wanted to try and get a goal, an opportunity. Try and create chances and I felt like we were chasing them a lot and when we won the ball back , we were too tired to do something with it.”
With Australia needing to be positive against Tunisia (Saturday night AEDT) and Denmark, Cummings could still have a key role to play and he’s backing himself to make an impact.
“If I get the chance (to score), it’s the same goal, the same ball. It doesn’t matter who the players are,” he said.
“The difference is the chances don’t come along as often, especially in the A-League I’m getting three, four chances a game and the goals are glowing.
“(Against France) you can see you’re lucky to get a touch of the ball, never mind a shot on goal, but it was a good experience.
“.. I’m thankful I got that opportunity. The result has dampened the mood a little, but there’s still two big games ahead.”
