Partick Thistle’s Ryan Edwards says that it is a dream come true to have been called up by Australia after he was named in their senior squad yesterday.
Edwards has been drafted into coach Ange Postecoglou’s 30-man pool for the forthcoming world Cup qualifiers against Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.
The all-action midfielder has been a stand-out performer for the Jags this season, being named the club’s player of the month on three occasions.
He admits it was an emotional moment to receive a call that he has working tirelessly towards for years.
“I didn’t expect it to be honest,” Edwards said. “There are so many clichés you can say about it being incredible and such an honour, but they are all true when the call actually comes.
“I can hardly describe the feeling that went through my body. I had a mad rush of adrenaline and my heart rate was pumping, so it was brilliant. I’m very happy. It just means the world to me.
“It’s the highest honour in anyone’s career to be called up for the senior national team. I’ve really wanted to be involved, and the criteria was that if you were playing with your club’s first-team and you were in form then you would be in with a shout.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play for and captain the under-23’s, and that’s been brilliant, but this is a whole other level of excitement and feeling of pride.
“You think of all the hard work you have put in over the years and to finally achieve something like that is amazing.”
There is a perception among fans of so-called smaller clubs in Scotland that their players are often overlooked for our own national squad simply because of the team they play for.
Thistle fans themselves in fact will point to defender Liam Lindsay having never been capped for the Scotland under-21 squad as cast-iron proof of that theory.
For Edwards though, he always had faith that he had made the right choice in coming to Scotland and Firhill, and he has backed his teammate to earn full international honours in time.
“I’m a big believer that hard work will always pay off in the end, and if you have to wait a bit longer and go through a bit of heartache, once the good news does come it makes it all the more worth it,” he said.
“With each game and each performance, I just wanted to keep knocking on the door and hopefully be heard.
“I took confidence from Australian players that have come to this league previously and then made the national team. Tom Rogic and Jackson Irvine are perfect examples of that.
“Everyone at the club was surprised that Liam wasn’t capped at under-21 level. I couldn’t believe it.
“In any country if you had performed the way Liam has and also been a regular scorer from centre-back, then it would be a surprise if you weren’t in the national team.
“Like any player, and like I have, you have to use that disappointment and that hurt to keep going, and if Liam keeps playing the way he is then I’m sure not only will he be attracting interest from really big clubs, he’ll make the Scotland team too.”
Despite his initial euphoria at his call-up, Edwards faces an anxious wait to see if he makes the final cut, with coach Postecoglou eventually whittling the 30 players down to 23.
“The way the coach has done it is that he picks his provisional squad and then he watches the weekend games and makes a final decision after that,” Edwards said.
“That will probably put a little bit of extra pressure on me leading into the Inverness game, but once you’re on the pitch whatever is going on in the background is irrelevant and you just go and play.
“It will probably give me more adrenaline to use throughout the 90 minutes so it will work out better for everyone!”
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