"Surreal". That’s the key word Keanu Baccus used to sum up his incredible, history-making World Cup debut against France.
The St Mirren midfielder became the club’s first ever player to represent his country on the beautiful game’s biggest stage when he climbed off the bench for Australia on Tuesday night.
Coming on to replace former Hibs player Jackson Irvine in the 85th minute, the 24-year-old’s childhood dream of playing for the Socceroos at a World Cup had spectacularly come true.
While the 4-1 loss to the current world champions ultimately didn’t make for pretty reading for the Aussies, that defining moment of crossing the white line on to the pitch to make history for his club and his family was still a supremely beautiful one for Baccus.
Now he’s determined to make even more memories in Qatar as the box-to-box battler looks to be involved once again when the Socceroos continue their Group D challenge against Tunisia tomorrow morning.
Speaking exclusively to Renfrewshire Live Sport from Australia’s Aspire Academy training base in Doha, Baccus said: “It was surreal.
“It was such an amazing feeling to get on to the pitch against France. It’s something I’ve dreamed of since I was a young boy.
“I used to watch the World Cup when I was younger, but it’s hard to think that far ahead in the future when you’re young with not much life experience under your belt.
“As you get older you realise you can turn those dreams into a reality.
“It’s such a cool feeling and it was a surreal, proud moment for me and my family.”
While Australia’s defeat to star-studded France didn’t come as much of a surprise to many, with PSG superstar Kylian Mbappe and AC Milan’s Olivier Giroud among the goalscorers, there have been plenty of other shock results already at this year’s competition.
Saudi Arabia defeating Lionel Messi’s Argentina has been the pick of the bunch so far, with Japan also stunning four-time champions Germany.
With Group D rivals Denmark and Tunisia drawing their opening match, the Socceroos have a brilliant chance to move one step closer to the knockout stages if Graham Arnold’s men can pick up a vital three points tomorrow morning at the Al Janoub Stadium.
Baccus is confident Australia can fire their way into the last-16, as long as they continue to give their all for the jersey.
He said: “All the games are tough and I feel football is getting closer as a whole in terms of competitiveness.
“There are no easy games here and you can see that with the results so far, especially the Argentina defeat.
“We need to believe in ourselves to the fullest and go out there and make our families, our nation and ourselves proud by giving it our all.
“If we do that I’m confident we can make it through the group.”
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