Cricket
Motorsport
Basketball test
League - Test
Combat Sports
Netball
Football
"Did his thing": Former Socceroo praises Volpato following World Cup debut
Nicholas Quinlan • June 25th, 2026 9:11 pm
Former Socceroo Josip Skoko has heaped plenty of praise towards Cristian Volpato following his World Cup debut against the USA, believing he was able to bring a dash of poise to the side.
After making a shock national allegiance on the eve of the tournament to join Tony Popovic’s side following several rejections to Football Australia's approaches, there has been plenty of hype surrounding the former Italian youth representative.
Having come on in the 61st minute in the Socceroos clash against the USA for just his second appearance in the green and gold, the 22-year-old showed promising signs in attack, managing to complete a game-high five dribbles within his 30 minutes of action.
And following his performance, there has been a popular consensus amongst fans and experts for the 22-year-old to start in their final group game against Paraguay.
Reflecting on his performance against the co-hosts on Saturday, the 51-time capped player for Australia was left seriously impressed by his brief showing.
“How can you not be impressed?” Skoko told SEN’s Arvos with Adam Peacock.
“The poise, the I don't care about you guys, I don't respect you guys, I'm doing what I wanna do, and he just went out there, and he did his thing, and he was amazing.
“They're the sorts of things that when you're in European clubs, you gain that stature, you gain that bit of aura about yourself to say, ‘I can do things better than the opponent’.
“And he brought that, and I'm sure that he will bring more of that in the next game and hopefully in the next game and the one after that.”
The Socceroos will look to secure an automatic spot in the Round of 32 when they play against Paraguay in Santa Clara, California.
As the official radio broadcaster of the 2026 FIFA World Cup™, SEN will have live coverage of the match with Simon Hill and Andy Harper calling the action LIVE.
Our coverage begins from 10am AEST across our radio network and on the SEN app, with kick-off taking place 12pm.
