Australian goalkeeper Mat Ryan is not fazed about the prospect of facing fearsome Frenchmen Oliver Giroud, Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante and Benjamin Mendy in Saturday’s World Cup opener.
The Socceroos will go toe to toe with France in Kazan this weekend. Ryan, who plays his club football in the English Premier League with Brighton & Hove Albion, comes up against these stars every weekend in the UK. The keeper’s team Brighton even beat Pogba’s Manchester United and Giroud’s Arsenal last season.
That experience has Ryan ready ahead of the World Cup kick-off this weekend.
“Having been successful against a few of these guys in the league, it gives me enormous belief that we can be successful whenever we face them and that’s this Saturday,” the keeper said.
“Tremendous belief in our squad that we can go there and beat them. They’re great players, they’re in their national team and their clubs for that reason. We have to be well prepared and find the balance of respecting them but not over-respecting them.
“The biggest thing I found out this year is that everyone I’ve come up against, they’re just human. We’ll be put under pressure and (there) may be struggling circumstances, maybe the same thing can happen to them if you apply it in the right areas at the right times.”
Ryan arrives in Russia after a brilliant debut season with Brighton. The shot-stopper helped keep the Seagulls up and was named the supporters’ player of the season. It was Ryan’ first campaign in the Premier League after stints in Spain and Belgium.
“I feel like I’ve been in a really good place this season, the whole process, steps to come to Brighton, I had one (eye) on the World Cup,” he said.
“Since the Brazil World Cup wanting to get to the highest level to pay consistently to maximise my career and give me the best opportunity to perform at tournaments like this. I’m in a good place at the minute and trying to ride that wave and continue in same manner.”
Ryan was part of the Socceroos side that lost all three of its group games in Brazil in 2014. It was a steep learning curve for the keeper, with Australia conceding nine goals from three matches. But he has bounced back and earned his Brighton move after impressing in Belgium.
Here's how his journey to the Caltex @Socceroos began.
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Ryan is entrenched as Australia’s number one and started in both recent friendly wins over the Czech Republic and Hungary. Confidence is rising within the Socceroos camp they are not just there to make up the numbers, according to the 26-year-old.
“I read a crazy stat before the Czech game that we hadn’t won in Europe in quite some time,” he said.
“And you know we managed to do that twice in a couple of weeks now. We really feel like we are progressing and benefiting from this time together in our mini camp there in Turkey. For myself, and the squad, that progress has been out of sight.
“I’m feeling pretty confident at this stage. I’ve an enormous belief in us as a squad that we can go and be success against whoever we’re gonna come up against."
