CommBank Socceroo Harry Souttar said that the next few weeks were all about proving what he is capable of doing ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026™.
The 27-year-old defender has battled through significant injuries over the past few years, but has been selected by Head Coach Tony Popovic to take part in the pre-camp in Sarasota, Florida.
Here's what he said as he continues to build towards a potential second World Cup.
Vibe in Sarasota
The last camp I was in was November 2024, so it's been a long time. You see some of the guys when you're playing against them and you catch up for 10 or 15 minutes, but it's great to see everyone now. Obviously, there's a few boys coming in this morning and last night, and there's a little group of us that have been here for just over a week now. Training has been good. It's been intense, adjusting to the climate, adjusting to the heat, but it's been a really good week of work so far.
Returning after injury
It was obviously a long time out compared to the one (ACL injury in November 2021) that I had four years ago, that was obviously a lot shorter. To me, this one (Achilles injury in December 2024) didn't really feel that that bad, although there was multiple surgeries and a few different injuries. I learned to dealt with long term injuries before that, so I knew what to expect going in. I knew what it took to get back - the hard work and the gym hours it took to come back. But life outside the pitch is really good. I've got a really good group around me in terms of family and friends, and obviously my fiancee as well. That side of things made it a whole lot easier.
You're going to go through ups and downs with your injury, with getting back. There were times I was back training and I'd have another little niggle or have to get another surgery. So you're stopping and starting again. That unknown - are you going to be back in time? Are you going to be fit? Obviously, we're just in camp now. The squad doesn't get announced until the start of June, so I've still got a lot of work to do to get into that final squad, because the group's done really well in the previous two years - they've come a long way. There's still a lot of hard work to go. I can prove over the next three or four weeks what I'm capable of.
Looking back at 2022
This time around, there's different qualities to the group. I don't really like to always look back on the last one, but it was a different World Cup. I had one week leading into it because it was in the middle of the season. This one's completely different. We've almost got a month and a half leading into it after our seasons have finished, and we can train as a group and work as a squad on game plans and different game situations and training. It's obviously a bigger group coming out to train with as well before the final squad gets announced. So there's a lot of differences.
Club form with Leicester City
It was nice going into the first game, coming back from injury. It was a strange situation, because the club was obviously already relegated. It's in a bit of a difficult time at the moment. But for me coming in, I was just so buzzing to be back on the park, so buzzing to be playing again. The concentration was just to play my normal game. It doesn't matter how long you've been out. Just do what you do best. Know your strengths and play to that. I thought it was a good game to come back to, at home, live on Sky, just to show everyone what I'm about. I thought I did that okay, obviously with a goal. We didn't get the clean sheet, but it was just so nice to be back on the pitch. Just to have that feeling after the game... I just feel like part of the team again.
Competition within the squad
You've got three or four guys challenging for every position, and that's only going to make the squad so much stronger. The younger ones pushing the older ones, the older ones pushing back on the younger ones. It's just going to keep those standards high like it always has been here, keep the training levels intense. No one's guaranteed a spot, no one's guaranteed a starting position. Every day in training, you've got to prove that, and prove why you should be here and what it takes to be here.
Everyone knows what the expectations are and what is required of the squad. [Head Coach Tony Popovic] makes it very, very clear to every player. I think every player, going into every training session or every game, knows their role, knows their responsibility, know what's expected, know what he wants see. The message is very clear.