TWO NEW ADDITIONS TO OUR ‘CITYROOS’ CONTINGENT

The Melbourne City influence over the Socceroos continued to grow over the recent international window, with not one - but two - City stars making their debuts for the national team.

Fresh off a brace in his final club match before the international break, City midfielder Aiden O’Neill became Socceroo Cap #629 with a stellar starting debut.

The 24-year-old continued his rich run of form in defensive midfield, playing an important role in the Socceroos 3-1 win over Ecuador last Friday.

Following his first match for Australia, O’Neill expressed his delight in representing his country on home soil.

“My family is here from Brisbane, my sister and everything. Tonight was unbelievable and to get a result like that – I thought we were really disciplined and I thought we played really well.

“I think I just really enjoyed myself out there. I’ve said during the league that I’ve just really been enjoying my football and tonight I just really enjoyed that. It felt like I belonged out there.”

O’Neill’s Socceroos teammate, Harry Souttar, praised the City midfielder’s performance following the match - “Aiden O’Neill making his debut, you’re not going to get many better debuts than that,” Souttar said. “The future is really bright for us.”

City young gun Jordan Bos was the other familiar face making his first appearance in the green and gold, although he was made to wait until the second fixture of the window.

Bos became the fifth City Academy graduate to represent the Socceroos, following in the footsteps of Daniel Arzani, Denis Genreau, Connor

Metcalfe and Nathaniel Atkinson.

The 20-year-old made his debut as a 54th-minute substitute, entering the field of play alongside O’Neill.

Following the match, Bos reflected on making his debut for his country.

“It’s always an honour obviously,” Bos told 10 Football. “Hopefully there’s many more to come.” “I think he [Arnie] wanted me to make my debut in front of my family and friends in Melbourne here”.

“They’re [Ecuador] a great squad, they’re physical and fast, it was a great challenge for me and I’ll take a lot from it.”

The Socceroos suffered a 2-1 loss to Ecuador in their second of two fixtures to close out the March International window. Bos, O’Neill and Marco Tilio are now back with their City teammates and ready to go for today’s clash.