World Cup hero Harry Souttar once insisted his ultimate ambition in football would be to play for Scotland...five years before he became an Australian icon. The former Dundee United defender has won huge amounts of praise for his colossal performances at the centre of defence for the Socceroos who clinched a shock qualification into the Last 16 of the World Cup, just after he battled back from a serious knee injury.
Souttar, 24, played for Scotland Under 17s and Under 19s previously and was part of Ricky Sbragia's team who played in a Euro Elite Round Under 19s qualifiers in Czech Republic in 2017, six months after moving from Tannadice to Stoke City. And the Aberdonian revealed his dream would be to one day partner brother John - who now has six caps - in the heart of the Scotland defence.
He said: "My ultimate ambition has always been to play for Scotland. Who knows, maybe one day I will partner John at the centre of defence for Scotland, but that's a long way into the future. My aim is to try and get myself established in English football and then see what happens."
But just two years later, he accepted a call up for Australia's Olympic qualification squad for their training camp in Malaysia and qualifiers in Cambodia. From there, he officially switched international allegiances and made his Australia debut in a World Cup qualifying win over Nepal where he scored twice in a 5-0 win.
He justified his decision then by pointing out: "I met representatives from Australia because I was not really getting called up from Scotland. I heard a lot that I snubbed my country, but I was not getting called up for any age group.
"Australia came in and said, ‘Would you like to play?’ I said, ‘Yeah’ and I’ve made my mum and my family very proud. It is a good decision for me personally."
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