{"id":496776,"date":"2026-06-17T05:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T05:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/496776\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T05:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T05:03:11","slug":"australians-can-feel-and-relate-to-socceroos-diversity-says-awer-mabil-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/496776\/","title":{"rendered":"Australians can \u2018feel and relate\u2019 to Socceroos\u2019 diversity, says Awer Mabil | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Socceroos forward Awer Mabil offered his trademark focus on Wednesday afternoon in Oakland speaking to the Australian media about this week\u2019s clash against the United States. There was one distraction, however, he could not overcome.<\/p>\n

The winger lost his concentration when long-time SBS commentator David Basheer \u2013 in the US as part of the network\u2019s coverage \u2013 asked a question during the press conference. \u201cSorry, David from SBS, right?\u201d Mabil interjected. \u201cI grew up watching you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mabil, the 30-year-old who is at his second World Cup, is one of the faces of this group of Socceroos. A refugee born in a Kenyan camp to South Sudanese parents, he told the story of his background as part of a video message about the team\u2019s diversity<\/a> that was released before the tournament.<\/p>\n

Mabil\u2019s experience is similar to many migrant stories in Australia. \u201cI forgot about your question, I just started reflecting,\u201d he continued to Basheer, as the room burst out in laughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up watching SBS as a kid, because it was free TV. So you doing the World Game, that\u2019s where I used to see all of my highlights from all over the world of football,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, first, thank you, you gave me good memories as a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Awer Mabil profile<\/a><\/p>\n

Basheer repeated his question, about the Socceroos\u2019 younger players. Mabil said he has tried to be a \u201cbig brother\u201d to the likes of Mo Tour\u00e9 and Nestory Irankunda \u2013 fellow refugees from Africa who grew up in Adelaide \u2013 as well as the other young players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s special for me to see their growth over the last couple of years and their maturity has been amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cI can just only be there, allow them to be themselves, and protect them when they need protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal by Irankunda against Turkey became a lightning rod across Australia for positivity towards multiculturalism. It also triggered a new wave of those seeing, and then sharing, the video message released by the players the week before the tournament.<\/p>\n

The two-minute video began with the words of Mabil<\/a>, and has now been shared widely on social media. \u201cIt was a moment to describe what Australia is, and Australia is a very multicultural country, and that\u2019s what makes it the best country in the world, in my opinion,\u201d Mabil said. \u201cYou have the whole world in one place and the Socceroos now are a representation of that. You have many different backgrounds representing one jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video was a simple collation of messages about where the Socceroos grew up and why they have pride in the jersey. \u201cThe reason why it went viral is because it was raw. It was not edited. It was just purely what the players wanted to say and all put together,\u201d Mabil said. \u201cIt had an effect because individually Australians can feel and relate with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coincidentally this week is celebrated globally as refugee week. Mabil said he wanted to thank Australia and do his best for a country that has taken in so many refugees over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a week that I would like to say to anybody that is misplaced all over the world that we are with you,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we are on the world stage right now, a big tournament, and just to tell you everything is possible, so keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Socceroos forward Awer Mabil offered his trademark focus on Wednesday afternoon in Oakland speaking to the Australian media…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-496776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}