DALLAS: Socceroos defender Alessandro Circati has lifted the lid on the moment Cristian Volpato finally told him he’d switch to Australia, revealing how surprised he was at the decision.
Volpato spoke to media earlier in the week from the Socceroos’ previous Oakland base, explaining that his Sassuolo team’s 1-0 loss to Parma was the moment everything changed.
Cristian Volpato after the Socceroos’ match against Paraguay. AP
Circati is a regular at Parma and played the full match while Volpato came on as a sub.
The Socceroos centre-back has been trying to convince Volpato to switch from Italy for some time, albeit unsuccessfully.
But in the moments after that match in Parma, everything changed.
“He actually came up to me after the game and said to me ‘I’m going to change’,” Circati recounted before the Socceroos left their Berkeley camp.
“I was like ‘really?’ I wasn’t sure. I was like ‘why now?’
“But he actually followed through with it. I’ve said it before, I did know it was coming but I didn’t know when it was coming.”
Circati went on to explain that while Volpato had committed verbally, it wasn’t that simple practically, hence the 22-year-old’s mad dash back to Sydney to renew his passport.
“It’s not just a simple process. You’ve got to get the clearance, and I don’t know how long that can take,” he said.
“I was obviously very happy for him but he didn’t know and I didn’t know if he’d be able to come.”
Circati has had his own switches with nationality, having been born in Italy and represented the under-20s side.
However, he made his Socceroos debut in 2023 and has rarely looked out of place in the jersey since that moment.
Alessandro Circati. Getty
His task will now be to stop Mo Salah in his tracks when Australia plays Egypt in Dallas for a spot in the round of 16.
Circati explained the way to navigate that will be all down to staying focused.
“You’ve just got to stay attentive when you mark them, because they can make something out of nothing,” he said.
“A half chance they can create into anything they want so it’s really about being in control and limit the things they can do and chances they can create.”
Assistant coach Mile Jedinak, who has come up against Salah in his roles at Premier League clubs, wasn’t willing to solely focus on Salah.
“I think we’re looking at them as a collective, we obviously do our analysis on individuals as well as a coaching staff,” he said.
“We have discussions of what that looks like. They have threats all over the park, they have got guys playing at a very high level, there’s others in there that are doing the job and the business at club level and national team.
“It’s probably more of a collective approach and that’s how we pass the message on to our players.”