Hearts star Cammy Devlin is living his childhood dream after being included in Graham Arnold's Australia squad for the World Cup - even if he knows he will have to quickly adapt to life at international football's elite level.
The Tynecastle favourite only has one previous cap, which he earned during a 2-0 friendly win over New Zealand just seven weeks ago, but caught the eye of the Socceroos boss for his impressive displays for the Jambos in the Scottish Premiership. And with Devlin now set to take on tournament holders France, Tunisia and Denmark in Qatar, the 24-year-old believes these encounters will be completely different to what he is used to but reckons Arnold will have a game plan in place to give them the best chance of a favourable result.
Devlin said: "I think you have no choice but to adapt. Our first game is coming up quickly against France. If they are on their game – and they usually are – it is going to be very hard. It will be a completely different type of game than I’m used to, not only in Europe but with Hearts in the Scottish league. We always have a good game plan as a national team. I’m sure it will be tough, but it will be a great experience. If we can get a result against them it would be massive.”
There is no secret how crucial Hibernian forward and Australia team mate Martin Boyle is to Arnold's set up and Devlin believes that they need him to be fit and raring to go in order to have the best chance of progressing out of Group D. Boyle is facing a race to be in contention to face France, with a knee injury picked up last month continuing to prevent him from training.
“It would be huge if he (Boyle) makes it,” added Devlin. “If you watched any of the qualifiers you would see how good a player he is. He’s a great player for Hibs and he is my rival here in Scotland but we put that aside. For the national team he is such an important player. We need him fit and raring to go. I know he went over early to get ready, so hopefully he will be.”
And despite playing for Boyle's Edinburgh rivals, Devlin confirmed that he was quick to phone the winger to check on his health when he first picked up the setback against St Mirren at the end of October. Melbourne City winger Marco Tilio was flown out to the Arab state on Monday, as a precaution, in case Arnold needs a last-minute replacement before the opening match.
"You do worry if he is going to make it at that stage," Devlin recalled. "I obviously didn’t know if I would be picked at that stage, but I spoke to him to make sure he was okay. As much as he is a rival when he plays for Hibs, I care about him. I want him to be with the Socceroos because that’s what we need. I made sure he was okay, he said he was fine, he was just focused on getting himself ready."
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