Former Wellington Phoenix midfielder Cam Devlin has been selected for the 26-man Australia squad to compete at the FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar.
The 24-year-old, who currently plays for Scottish club Heart of Midlothian, shed tears of joy when head coach Graham Arnold broke the news of his selection.
“The great stories, when you ring up a kid like Cammy Devlin, who’s doing exceptionally well at Hearts, and ask him what he’s doing over the next few weeks?
“The kid says, ‘I don’t know where I need to be at that moment’, and I say ‘you’re going to come to Qatar’.
“He breaks down in tears.
“Letting these kids fulfil their dreams is incredible. Those stories and those moments are great.
“The hard stories outweigh them a little bit at the moment but once we see those boys we will be right.”
Devlin played 44 games for the Phoenix between 2019-21 and signed for Hearts last year.
After playing for Australia’s U-20 and U-23 sides, he made his full international debut against the All Whites at Auckland’s Eden Park on September 25.
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Australia squad
Goalkeepers: Mathew Ryan (FC Copenhagen), Andrew Redmayne (Sydney FC), Danny Vukovic (Central Coast Mariners)
Defenders: Aziz Behich (Dundee United), Milos Degenek (Columbus Crew), Thomas Deng (Aibirex Niigata), Joel King (Odense Boldklub), Nathaniel Atkinson (Hearts), Fran Karacic (Brescia), Harry Souttar (Stoke City), Kye Rowles (Hearts), Craig Goodwin (Adelaide United)
Midfielders: Aaron Mooy (Celtic), Jackson Irvine (St Pauli), Ajdin Hrustic (Hellas Verona), Bailey Wright (Sunderland), Cameron Devlin (Hearts), Riley McGree (Middlesbrough), Keanu Baccus (St Mirren)
Forwards: Awer Mabil (Cadiz), Mathew Leckie (Melbourne City), Martin Boyle (Hibernian), James Maclaren (Melbourne City), Jason Cummings (Central Coast Mariners), Mitchell Duke (Fagiano Okayama), Garang Kuol (Central Coast Mariners)
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