AFC
Kuala Lumpur
Samuel Silvera is keen on stamping his mark after making it to the Australian AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 squad.
The Middlesbrough FC forward only collected his first international cap with the Socceroos in September 2023 but has done enough to earn head coach Graham Arnold’s faith as Australia look to reclaim the trophy they won in 2015.
“Honestly, it’s a massive privilege,” he said in an interview on the Socceroos website. “Thank you to Arnie (Graham Arnold) for putting the trust in me, to have the confidence in me, hopefully I can repay him when I get on the pitch.
“We’re going to work hard, and the focus is obviously to go out and do our best, for myself as well as for the team.
“I think the first couple days have been just getting amongst the boys and having a good laugh and getting the camaraderie going.
“But I think we have an amazing squad here, and I think with the talent that we have in this squad, we can do really well in this tournament.”
With four goals and three assists thus far for his English club this season, Silvera is certainly in fine form and will get to showcase his value when Australia take on Bahrain in a friendly match in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
In the AFC Asian Cup, Australia are in Group B where they will face India in their opening game on January 13 with matches against Syria and Uzbekistan to come.
Over in Doha, Roberto Mancini will get a chance to assess his Saudi Arabia side when they take on Lebanon in a friendly match at Al Wakrah Stadium later on Thursday while two Asian Cup hopefuls Hong Kong, China and Tajikistan will play each other.
Among the teams that have checked in, Uzbekistan and Jordan completed their first training session in Doha on Wednesday.
