With Scotland watching enviously on once again as the world’s biggest and best battle it out in Qatar, I wasn’t expecting to be as captivated by this World Cup as I have been so far.
On a personal level, as a lifelong admirer of Lionel Messi, it’s Argentina that I’d love to see lifting the trophy by the end of the tournament next month.
Unfortunately, it’s a case of the less said about their opening game against Saudi Arabia, the better for fans of La Albiceleste.
The majority of Saints fans and Tartan Army foot soldiers looking for a country to adopt have unsurprisingly landed on Australia.
Not only do many Scots already have family ties to the land Down Under – half of my in-laws live in Sydney – but the incredible number of players with links to the likes of Hearts, Hibs and Celtic make them such an easy team to get behind.
For St Mirren, of course, there was hope that dynamic duo Ryan Strain and Keanu Baccus would both be called up to Graham Arnold’s final squad heading for Doha.
As it turned out, only Baccus was handed the golden ticket to represent the Socceroos this time around.
And, boy, has the brilliant Buddie already made the most of his opportunity.
Just making the final squad was a remarkable achievement in itself, considering how far he’d come in such a short space of time since joining St Mirren in the summer.
When he started warming up on the touchline ahead of his momentous substitute appearance against France on Tuesday night, I could almost hear the shouts of delight from Paisley in my flat in the east end of Glasgow.
For the first ever time, the Saints had a star not only travel to the World Cup – but play in their opening game.
The fact it came against the current world champions just made the moment even more special.
The 24-year-old is now in the club’s history books forever, hopefully blazing a trail for other Buddies to follow in future years.
What was also remarkable was Aussie boss Arnold put his faith in Baccus to come on against the French for just his second cap, ahead of midfield counterpart Ajdin Hrustic, who already has 19 caps under his belt.
That not only shows just how highly Baccus is rated in the Australia camp, but also gives the box-to-box midfielder plenty of hope he’ll also feature against Tunisia and Denmark in their final two group games.
A win on Saturday morning against the former would give the Socceroos a superb shot at making it through to the next round.
If Baccus can help them manage that, he’d not only be a hero in Paisley but he’d probably never have to buy a drink in Sydney ever again.
With that in mind – Mon’ the Aussies!
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