OAKLAND, California, June 3 (Reuters) - Lucas Herrington and Jason Geria were born 14 years apart and have taken very different journeys to the World Cup, but both are determined to put their best foot forward after making the cut for the Australia squad.
Herrington, at 18 the youngest player in the Socceroos squad and 11th youngest in the tournament, has enjoyed a meteoric rise since his professional debut only 17 months ago.
"It's special to be at a World Cup at a young age," the centre half said after training at Australia's tournament base on Wednesday.
"I want to do the best I can to help the country, make the country proud. And I'll do that every time I step onto the field. And every minute I get."
Herrington is no stranger to the United States, having played every minute of all 15 games for the Colorado Rapids during the first half of his first Major League Soccer (MLS) season this year.
"I probably wouldn't have come if I didn't get those minutes in Colorado," he said.
The Brisbane-born defender made his debut for the national team in March but has made enough of an impact to be brought to the U.S. for the World Cup.
Herrington is committed to staying grounded, paying credit to the support of the staff, teammates like veteran goalkeeper Mathew Ryan, and his parents, who will be travelling to Vancouver for Australia's first game against Turkey on June 13.
If Herrington's rise has been meteoric, Geria's international career has been very much a slow burn.
The 33-year-old right back, who qualified to play for Uganda through his parents, was first capped by then Australia coach Ange Postecoglou in 2016.
He missed out on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup squads but got the call from Tony Popovic after his former coach at Melbourne Victory took over the Socceroos in late 2024.
Geria won his second cap eight years after his first and has since become a regular in Popovic's squads.
"I'm just very grateful that this opportunity has come and that I persisted in working as hard as I did for as long as I did, and believing that one day something like this could happen for myself," he said.
"I'm still pinching myself, honestly, that I'm part of the final 26 in here in base camp and in preparing for a World Cup."
(Reporting by Nathan Frandino; additional writing by Nick Mulvenney; editing by Clarence Fernandez)
