Mabil: I'm grateful to be back

CommBank Socceroos forward Awer Mabil said he was grateful to be back in camp for his first call-up since 2024.

He was speaking to media ahead of the upcoming FIFA Series 2026™ that will feature games against Cameroon and Curacao.

The 35-time Socceroo also spoke about what he has learned in clubland since he has been away, and how he has mentored fellow African Australians such as Nestory Irankunda and Mo Toure.

Being back in camp

It's obviously nice to be back among the boys, and meeting some of the new staff also. It's been an enjoyable 24 hours and I'm just trying to soak it all in and enjoy it.

I was just grateful to get called up again and to be amongst it again. I've missed it. So it was nice to be considered again. It's something that I have to enjoy every moment of. When you're not here, you realise when you're away from it, how special it is to represent your country. It's something that I'm grateful for, to be back.

What it taught me is that when you're not here, or when you do come in, you have to take advantage of it, because it could be your last. I've been very fortunate enough to be in many camps before with the national team, and the first one was special. After a while, I won't say I took it for granted, but I didn't appreciate it as much. Being away makes you appreciate what it is to play for the national team. It's been a very good learning phase being away, and I'm just going to enjoy every moment.

The road back to the team

I'm just taking day by day. That's how I that's what I've learned over the years. Through obstacles, you learn, and I think that's the best way for me to learn is to experience certain things. Obviously, the last World Cup, I didn't play as much as I would have loved - but at the same time, we had a really good World Cup, so I'm proud of that I was part of the group. If I'm called up to do something for the national team, whether it's at the World Cup or not, I'm always going to do my best.

I feel better. That's probably the most important thing - I feel better as a player. I'm playing enjoyable football at my club, and that, for me is the most important thing, is to enjoy your football. When you do that, you do things. If I was not doing anything at my club, then I would probably not be here. So I have to take that into ability that I've been working in silence. Not to prove anything to anybody, but it's just to be better and as a player and most importantly, as a person.

Role in the Squad

Everybody has a role in the team. We have a young boys coming up and as a older boy now, time does fly. Feels like yesterday I was one of the young players, but now it's just about also giving that experience, especially mentally. That's the most important thing for the young players, because quality wise, they've got it. As a senior player now... I don't know if it's about being a senior player, but as a person, I'm just open to helping anybody, whether it's older player or younger players. I think now I've been in Europe for maybe 10 years. There's this thing about Australian players that people say that we don't stay overseas for long - we'll come back - and there's truth to that, but it all comes down to mentality. If they were to ask me - because some of them are new now to Europe - they'll ask me a few questions about what they can do to make sure that they can be prepared to stay there and fight it out, then I'm there to help them.

When I first went over there, my biggest goal was to stay there over 10 years and not just come back, no matter how hard things got. They got really hard, and continue to be hard. But that's how you learn. As a person now, the older you get, the more you appreciate the tough times. In a sense, I know it sounds weird, but that's how you grow, and that's how I find myself to grow instead of where I can be comfortable.

Mentoring other young African Australians

What it's about, in my opinion, is about laying the foundations. Coming up as a young African player, there was no blueprint to seeing one of your - we're all Australians, with different backgrounds - but seeing an African there, playing for the Socceroos, maybe playing a major role in the team, was not something that was that was normal back when I was coming up. So my biggest goal was to push through no matter what, and if there was any kind of blueprint that I laid for these young players, like Ness [Nestory Irankunda] and Toure [Mo Toure] and I'm sure there's going to be more coming up, then I've done my job. I'll continue to do my job, because everybody's on a journey. I'm really excited for them also, and very excited for Australian football in general, because there's big potential there for good days.

I haven't been in many camps with them - with Nestor in one camp and also one camp with Toure. But I do talk to them now and then also, and they reach out. It's about allowing them to be themselves, respectfully towards others, and respecting the team - the team rules, for example - and also ways to to behave respectfully on the field, so that they can give themselves the best opportunity to to keep playing. Sometimes you don't want these small misbehaviours to cost you games or to have bad eyes on you. So these are the kind of things that I try to tell them.

MATCH DETAILS

CommBank Socceroos v Cameroon

Date: Friday, 27 March
Kick-off: 8.10pm AEDT
Venue: Accor Stadium
Broadcast:  Network 10 and Paramount+
Tickets: Available on Ticketmaster

CommBank Socceroos v Curaçao
Date: Tuesday, 31 March
Kick-off: 8.10pm AEDT
Venue: AAMI Park
Broadcast:  Network 10 and Paramount+
Tickets: Available on Ticketek