Mathew Ryan #1

Profile

You could say the Socceroos captain has been around the block. The 33-year-old has played for 12 clubs across eight countries – including Brugge, Brighton and AZ Alkmaar, and even brief spells at Arsenal and Roma – in a career spanning more than 15 years. Now on the cusp of appearing at his fourth World Cup, the boy from Plumpton in Sydney’s west is the latest in a long line of quality Australian keepers, including Mark Bosnich and Zeljko Kalac. Another one of his predecessors, Mark Schwarzer, was his childhood hero and a teenage Ryan was at Sydney’s Olympic stadium in 2005 to witness Schwarzer and co famously beat Uruguay on penalties to qualify for Australia’s first World Cup in 32 years. Ryan now leads Australia to their sixth straight World Cup but in an alternate universe, he could be wearing a Three Lions shirt in North America – he also holds a British passport.

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