Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Not even Egypt superstar Mohamed Salah can unsettle the unflappable Alessandro Circati.
Salah, who is battling a hamstring strain, and Manchester City attacker Omar Marmoush loom as the Pharaohs’ biggest threats in Australia’s round-of-32 clash in Dallas on Friday (4am Saturday AEST).
But composed Parma central defender Circati, 22, is coming off his second season in the Serie A and knows he can go toe-to-toe with top-class strikers.
Circati counts the likes of Lautaro Martinez, Marcus Thuram and Rasmus Hojlund among his regular opponents and knows what it takes to quell the influence of top players.
“The individual players are pretty good, the likes of Salah and Marmoush going forward,” Circati said.
“But there’s a lot of opportunities we can exploit, lots of things we can take advantage of, keeping in mind the quality of their players as well.
“You’ve got to stay attentive for the whole time you’re marking them because they can make something out of nothing.
“A half chance they can create into anything that they want, so it’s really about being in control and being able to limit the things they do and the chances they can create.”
Circati conceded seeing some of the upsets at the World Cup so far – headlined by Paraguay – who drew 0-0 with Australia – knocking out Germany, gave the Socceroos cause for both trepidation and optimism.
“In 90 minutes anything can happen,” he said.
“Not only this World Cup’s proved it … any game can prove it, any team can win in just a game of 90 minutes.
“Obviously regarding the performance we did put up against Paraguay, it does give you a bit of self-confidence.
“But again, (you) keep it in the back of the mind that you can play as well as you want, but sometimes you can still lose.”
Circati insisted the Socceroos didn’t need to look to past moments of glory to deliver something special.
A maiden World Cup knockout phase win is enough.
“I don’t think anyone needs a bit of motivation for these sort of games,” Circati said.
“The motivation is there on an individual level and on a collective level.
“It would be the first knockout game Australia’s ever won, so I don’t think there’s need for any motivation really. It’s a moment to create history, to create something Australia won’t forget as a nation.”
