By JARROD POTTER
“IT’S pretty amazing for me, because I started my career off at Dandy and I never thought that I would ever play for the Australian team … and now I’m playing.”
With an almighty header Australian under-16s defender Mersim Memeti helped Australia qualify for the 2016 under-16 AFC Championship (Asian Cup) in India.
Memeti, 15, from Dandenong, got to fulfil a childhood dream of representing Australia when he donned number 4 in the green and gold and took the field in the Asian Cup qualifiers in Vietnam earlier this month.
It was an impressive tournament performance from the Joeys, knocking over Guam and Myanmar in earlier group clashes before facing the host nation to seal its place in the next tournament on the international junior soccer calendar.
With a home-field advantage and knowing the local weather inside and out, the Vietnamese had the upper hand heading into the must-win Group J clash.
But not even a sweltering day in Hanoi – with the mercury skyrocketing over 35 and the humidity levels of a tropical forest – could halt Australia’s charge and especially its Dandenong defensive specialist.
In the back-and-forth must-win clash against Vietnam, the match was turned on its head in the first half as Memeti found space at the far post from a well-weighted corner and his header across the goals beat the keeper.
Memeti’s first-half goal would be the only score in the clash as Australia booked its spot atop the group following the 1-0 victory.
“We had to win the game against Vietnam – if we didn’t win Vietnam would have gone through instead of us,” Memeti said.
“The game was pretty good, but we didn’t play that well – it was pretty hot, very humid, but at the end of the game we still won 1-0 and that’s all that matters.
“Scored a header; it was very good scoring for the country.”
It’s been a whirlwind couple of months for the young defender, playing in two international soccer tournaments – the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Under-16 Youth Championships in Cambodia and recently the AFC Under-16 Championships.
“It’s been really good – it’s been a great experience for me and the team,” Memeti said.
“The AFC was good – thing was only a friendly tournament – then the AFC qualifications we qualified for the Asian Cup in India in 2016.”
Memeti now set his sights on the Asian Cup in 2016 – hoping to emulate the success of the Socceroos earlier this year – with the bigger goal in mind: a top-four finish to help Australia qualify for the under-17 World Cup.
The Dandenong Thunder alumnus gets to rest up for a few weeks before his next local assignment – playing for Melbourne City NYL where he hopes to get a few minutes on-field in the eight-round season, despite being one of the youngest players in the squad.
Capping off the amazing year so far for Memeti was making his senior debut for Melbourne City – in a mid-week friendly against North Geelong earlier this year.
“Was good to play with the first team players and a good experience to play with the older boys,” Memeti said.
He wanted to thank his family and friends, Melbourne City and Dandenong Thunder for their support.
