Herrington reveals call from icon to soothe World Cup pain
Updated . First published at
Lucas Herrington has revealed that Zlatan Ibrahimović called him to double down on his support after Australia’s heartbreaking World Cup exit on penalties.
Herrington, 18, bravely stepped up to take a Socceroos spot kick against Egypt in the round of 32 match in Dallas in July.
Lucas Herrington after his penalty shot. Robbie Jay Barratt
But the centre back’s shot clattered into the crossbar and Egypt progressed 4-2 in the shootout.
Iconic Sweden striker Ibrahimović immediately leapt to Herrington’s defence.
“Penalty is like lottery,” he said on Fox Sports’ coverage in the United States.
“You score, you become a hero. You don’t score, sadly, you become zero. But I just want to reach out to Herrington. You’re 18-years-old, you’re young.
“This is just the beginning of your career. You stepping up there, you show a lot of courage. Not everybody would do that. My friend, you’re the best. Don’t listen to the rest. Listen, Herrington, if you want to reach out, I’m here.”
Socceroos great Mark Schwarzer asked Herrington if he had heard from Ibrahimović during an extensive interview at Hull City’s training ground.
The full interview will be available to watch on Friday from 7.15pm AEST on Stan Sport.
“Zlatan did call me, he called me a couple of weeks ago actually, so I wasn’t expecting it,” Herrington said.
“He just said, really, like ‘head up.’ He asked how I was first, and I said, ‘yeah, I’m good, how are you’?”
Schwarzer then interjected.
“Are you sure it was him? I’ve been punked before,” he said.
Mark Schwarzer headed to Hull to speak with Lucas Herrington at the training ground. Stan
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure anyway!” Herrington replied.
“He just said, ’how are things going post-World Cup? And I told him, ’yeah, good, I’m moving to Hull, and he said, ‘oh, great, it’s a great, great move, great opportunity.’
“And he said he was proud of me and just to keep my head up. It was obviously a tough moment, but he said he’s had plenty of moments like that in his career and just to keep going, keep working hard and make sure you have another one of those moments and just be ready.”
Herrington said he was continuing to practice taking penalties.
“Obviously in the cup competition (EFL Cup), we knew it could go to penalties, so the day before I was practising, just to be ready,” he said.
“Just stuck to my routine, kept it the same, and yeah, obviously I scored a couple, which was nice to see the back of the net ripple. I’ll be ready for the next one, and hopefully, I get that opportunity again.”
Herrington won man of the match in the midweek EFL Cup win over Stoke City.
It was his first start for Hull after making his Premier League debut off the bench in a stirring 2-0 upset of Manchester United last weekend.
Herrington will next be in action against Frank Lampard’s Coventry City, with Stan Sport providing pre-game coverage from 11.50pm on Saturday (AEST).
“It’s still pretty mind-blowing for me,” the Brisbane Roar product said.
“Just speaking to Mum about it as well, we both can’t really believe how quick it’s gone. She just remembers like even one year, two years ago, I was just always waking up at crazy hours in the morning to watch Premier League games, and now I’m a Premier League player.
“That first game hit harder than we thought it would. I don’t think we realised how big the Premier League was until I stepped onto that field.
“Obviously you see how big it is, but I think being in and involved with some of the players that were on the pitch was a super surreal moment for me, and I just loved every minute of it.”
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