{"id":517342,"date":"2026-06-29T23:34:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/517342\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T23:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:34:31","slug":"one-of-our-own-cristian-volpato-flourishes-after-socceroos-switch-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/517342\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018One of our own\u2019: Cristian Volpato flourishes after Socceroos switch | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cristian Volpato is Italian football\u2019s make-good to Australia, a peace offering set to soothe 20 years of pain. The winger flipped allegiances so he could represent the Socceroos on the eve of the World Cup<\/a>, but his career was shaped by those responsible for perhaps the greatest heartache of Australian football.<\/p>\n

In the closest the Socceroos have come to a World Cup knockout victory, the team remembered as the \u201cgolden generation\u201d and led by Mark Viduka were headed for extra time in 2006 against Italy<\/a> when Fabio Grosso won a penalty, converted by Francesco Totti, for the eventual champions.<\/p>\n

Volpato says he has watched the match \u201clike a hundred times\u201d, and it is \u201ccrazy\u201d the connections he shares with one of Australian football\u2019s most dramatic moments.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy ex-agent was Totti, who scored, and then my coach is the one who won the penalty so it\u2019s a bit like \u2026 you know what I mean?\u201d he said, struggling to find words to explain the coincidence.<\/p>\n

Totti stewarded Volpato through the early years of his career in Italy and at Sassuolo he has been playing under Grosso, although the former Italy defender took the Fiorentina job this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to Grosso, he just remembers he didn\u2019t even know what he was doing, he felt a bit of contact, he went down,\u201d Volpato says. \u201cThey got the pen, Totti, and he just shot as hard as he could, he said.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision was widely seen as a travesty \u2013 at least in Australia. Volpato sees lessons in the incident, however, as the Socceroos head into their match against Egypt on Friday<\/a> (Saturday AEST) in Dallas still looking for their first World Cup knockout victory 20 years later.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are also small details that can change a game,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have to use that in our game as well, because small details can make a big, big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old made his first start of the World Cup against Paraguay<\/a>, and looked dangerous down the right flank alongside Jordy Bos.<\/p>\n

The head coach of Australia, Tony Popovic, congratulates Cristian Volpato after Australia\u2019s draw against Paraguay. Photograph: Dean Mouhtaropoulos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

His late inclusion in the Socceroos World Cup squad was a surprise, but it almost never happened. Volpato\u2019s Australian passport had expired, so he had to dash back to Sydney on the eve of the tournament. \u201cThank God, and I\u2019m thankful to the people at the passport place who helped me get it quickly,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Volpato, a junior Italy international, had been in regular contact with Australian coaching staff for years, but he finally decided to make the switch in late May, after a match between his club and Parma, where the Socceroos defender Alessandro Circati plays.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSomething clicked and my heart said: \u2018Just go, I think you belong there,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to come being 50-50, if I wanted to come it\u2019s because I wanted to come and I felt it was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

It represents a homecoming for the player who grew up in Sydney, but was rejected by two Australian football academies at age 16. \u201cI got told from both of them that basically I\u2019m not good enough to play,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to go to Italy as a kid, so I think it [worked] out perfectly to be honest because then straight after, I just remember the car ride home with my dad. I was crying. And he just says: \u2018Don\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll go to Italy now and we\u2019ll try it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

His mother sold her shop to move to Italy with him, and he was successful in securing a place in the academy of the Serie A giants Roma. \u201cThank God I made the trial and my life changed from there,\u201d Volpato says. \u201cI feel like I have to give a lot as well to Italy because they gave me a second opportunity. From there, I also got picked for the Italian team first, so I mean, I just accepted it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before he switched allegiances to Australia, Volpato was the subject of online trolling from Socceroos fans who felt he had neglected the country he grew up in. \u201cI\u2019m human like everyone else, I\u2019m addicted to my phone like 90% of the people as well in the world,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be good things [said about you], there\u2019s going to be bad things, but I feel like as a footballer, you\u2019ve just got to be resilient, and sometimes you can use it as fuel as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Socceroos fans have their own chant for him, declaring Volpato as \u201cone of our own\u201d. The player was sent the videos of the singing by his family, which has helped validate his decision to choose Australia over Italy. \u201cI felt like it was right,\u201d he says. \u201cI felt like I can be myself, and I can show myself here more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristian Volpato is Italian football\u2019s make-good to Australia, a peace offering set to soothe 20 years of pain.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-517342","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\/517342","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=517342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}