But what did you make of their lineup?

Yeah, I mean, you look at the lineup and you're matching up against City, you don't really think it's going to be a great one.

But if you look at the players that kind of stood out in the game was Munoz and the young lad up front, Koumas, I think his name is.

And, you know, you look at those 100 million pound players to kind of step up in those moments.

We had the chances.

And the two young lads were the kind of ones that...

Yeah, Koumas had a great chance.

I mean, he's a top player, but, is he a 60 million pound player rather than a hundred million pound?

Just yeah, I think the place to start is what was he like day to day, your experience of Jurgen Klopp?

Yeah, I mean, going, going up there, um, he made it, he made it so, so comfortable.

Um, he's just a really good, uh, really good human and m- like, I think the success comes from, obviously he's got great coaches around him, and he obviously understands the game, but- His man management skills with, with players and keeping people happy and, uh, it's probably the best there is.

Um, definitely the best I was involved in, but you can see, see how he is with everyone.

Keeps everyone engaged, always messing around with them.

He loves, he loves kicking you in the back of the leg when, [laughs] when you're just running around.

He'd do that a lot.

Yeah.

It's a wild story.

It is a crazy story.

Um, tiny, tiny town, um, in a little pocket in the north coast.

Um, grew up playing for Lennox Head as a striker and was just, you know, I was, I was, I was definitely the best kid around there, um, without [laughs] saying it with an ego, I was, and playing up, uh, age groups was, was, was all I could do at the time and my parents knew I, you know, was, was a talent and they, they took me up to Kingscliff.

I played there in, in a better league, and I was a part of this team that did tours over in, uh, England, Denmark, Sweden, the Dania, Dana Cup, Gothia Cup, and yeah, there was, there was scouts at some of the games and, um, yeah, some trials and for Liverpool and Newcastle, at Bolton.

Um, so yeah, I could have gone, could've gone to Newcastle in the end, which you would've been happy about.

[laughs] But, uh-

Is it purely down to the fact that there's just more billionaires in this country, and they're willing to invest in all kinds of sports like football, and their infrastructure is just far greater than, than what we can comprehend in Australia?

Lennox Head end up at

Liverpool? Yeah.

Yeah, it's a crazy...

It's a wild story.

It is a crazy story.

Tiny, tiny town in a little pocket in the North Coast.

Grew up playing for Lennox Head as a striker and...

How did you get through that and who gave you your chance at the start?

It's a wild story.

It is a crazy story.

Um, tiny, tiny town, um, in a little pocket in the north coast.

Um, grew up playing for Lennox Head as a striker and was just, you know, I was, I was, I was definitely the best kid around there, um, without s- saying it with an ego, I was, and playing up, uh, age groups was, was, was all I could do at the time, and my parents knew I, you know, was, was a talent and they, they took me up to Kingscliff.

I played there in a, in a better league and I was a part of this team that did tours over in, uh, England, Denmark, Sweden, and the Dania- Dana Cup, Gothia Cup, and yeah, there was, there was scouts at some of the games and, um, yeah, some trials and for Liverpool and Newcastle at Bolton.

Um, so yeah, I could have gone, could've gone to Newcastle in the end, which you would've been happy about, but, uh-

Is it purely down to the fact that there's just more billionaires in this country and they're willing to invest in all kinds of sports like football, and their infrastructure is just far greater than, than what we can comprehend in Australia?

Yeah, I think it's down to, to a lot of things, but ultimately America's a huge country and the population itself is, is a lot.

Will that help them?

Yeah, you'd, you'd hope so.

Yeah.

Um, uh, yeah, we've been talking about it for, for many World Cups, you know, that, uh, you know, they're, they're generally filled with, you know, enough stars to, to really make a dent at, at any World Cup.

And, you know, sometimes they're there, sometimes no.

Uh, but it'd be difficult to bet against, um, I mean, Egypt we know is a quality team, Salah and others.

Um, you know, they're, they're, they're, they're no easy beats at all.

It wasn't a training session without, surely.

Yeah

...

if you, if you look at the game- Every single player defended for each other the whole game, and, and you just don't really see that in club football when they...

when, when teams do that.

Someone will fall asleep or something, but everyone was just fighting for each other the whole game, and I think that was the, the most important part.

You know, the, the fullbacks, I thought the fullbacks had unbelievable games defensively, especially Jacob Italiano.

He defended so well out there.

Brad?

You, you found the same, that he'd just make you wanna through lit- run literally through a brick wall?

Yeah.

No, Ange was great, and I think a lot of his, um, chats, uh, I think a few of them came out in the media as well.

I think peop- there were some videos of...

There was one of him being real emotional, and he was hitting that whiteboard at halftime, if everyone remembers that.

Um, but no, his, his game day chats were the best I've heard, um, from anyone.

You know, he pulled all the heartstrings and, like, as I said, like, got you ready for the game.

So how do you see Jacob Italiano, probably think he's gonna play on the right and Jordan Bos on the left, their roles in, in this setup?