PASADENA, California -- The saga surrounding Cristian Volpato's international eligibility has had many twists and turns, but Socceroos defender Alessandro Circati has said that, deep down, he knew his friend would end up in green-and-gold.
After stunning Australian football with the news that he was set to switch his international allegiance from Italy to the Socceroos on the eve of the FIFA World Cup, Volpato landed in Los Angeles on Saturday morning and headed straight into camp -- watching on from the stands as his new teammates fell to a 1-0 friendly loss to Mexico at the Rose Bowl that evening.
For many of the squad, the first time they'd ever met Volpato came when he walked into their pre-game meal. Circati, however, is quite familiar with Volpato, the two friends, as well as former teammates in Italy's junior national teams, and while he was tight-lipped about any role he had in influencing the decision, he said he never had any doubts the attacker's future would eventually end with him playing for the land of his birth.
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"It's good to have Cristian in camp," Circati said. "It's been a long time coming. Obviously, the conversations between him and me stay between him and me. But deep down, I knew he was going to come. Just didn't know when."
Although arriving too late to feature in Australia's defeat to El Tri, the effort the national team staff have undertaken to ensure his eligibility and bring him into camp means Volpato is widely expected to be named in Tony Popovic's final 26-player squad for the World Cup, which is set to be revealed on Sunday evening local time after the squad relocates to their base in the Bay Area.
The Sassuolo attacker will be anticipated to fill some of the attacking void left by injured Middlesbrough attacker Riley McGree, should he indeed be picked, as well as serving as an option to take set-pieces. The 22-year-old scored two goals and registered four assists across Serie A and cup play with the Neroverdi this season, making 12 starts across 26 appearances.
"For the people that don't know him on the field, he's naturally a winger," Circati said. "He can play inside pockets, one-v-one, he's a left footer, likes to take a player on, isn't afraid to make a mistake, and as a defender, he puts you in your place. It's not easy to defend the player constantly going one by one with you."
The late nature of Volpato's arrival into camp, however, combined with a desire to represent Italy that he reiterated as recently as March -- turning down a chance to represent the Socceroos at the 2022 World Cup -- and his failure to contribute to qualifying, has raised eyebrows.
Team skipper Mathew Ryan, though, downplayed any potential impact that Volpato's arrival could have on the chemistry in the dressing room, emphasising instead the importance of the Socceroos squad being at its strongest, as well as its existing cosmopolitan nature.
"We want to be the strongest team we can," said Ryan. "We obviously welcome him in here, and we're going to try and help him be the best that he can be. I'm sure he can embrace all that we've got here as an environment.
"I can't speak obviously on behalf of the boys; they all have their own freedom of speech and whatnot, but from my point of view, who am I to say who deserves to be here or not? We all make decisions based on circumstances in our lives, and I don't know the details of his story. At the end of the day, I can't control what he decides or what he does.
"We've had other boys who have gone the other way. We've had other boys; there are some nice, unique Australian accents in [Scottish-born] Martin Boyle and Harry Souttar.
"End of the day, everyone in here, they're an Aussie, that's the case, and we'll move forward."
