For most players, a World Cup call-up is the thing of dreams, but for Cristian Volpato that exact phone call from Socceroos coach Graham Arnold was a bit more complicated.
The AS Roma youngster has taken the Italian club by storm over the past year and recently scored his first Serie A goal of the season.
Currently also in Italy’s national youth system, Volpato is on course to one day play for Azzurri if he can continue his rise over the next few years.
The 18-year-old did grow up in Australia but has Italian parents and seen his football career take off in Rome after being rejected by two A-League Men clubs in Sydney as a teenager.
MORE: Socceroos World Cup squad revealed | World Cup injury tracker
That unique backstory has paved the way for his current dilemma: play for the Socceroos at the World Cup or wait and see if he can make it with Italy.
In the end, Volpato has sat on the fence somewhat and who can blame him?
While he declined Arnold’s repeated attempts to get him to Qatar, the young talent has made it clear he’s in no rush to pick which nation to represent with his football career only just taking off.
"I’ve seen lots of speculation about decisions I have supposedly taken at international level: the truth is that I am still just at the start of my professional career and I am totally focused on continuing that process at Roma," Volpato wrote on Instagram stories.
"Making any sort of rushed decision about my international future at this early stage risks being extremely premature.
"There will be plenty of time for me to take the decision that feels right for me, but right now I know my focus needs to be on continuing to work hard each and every day in order to continue improving as a player.
"For now, it’s time to focus on the game against Sassuolo!"
Che palla, @NemanjaMatic 🥰 pic.twitter.com/W4SndMqcXU
— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) November 1, 2022
Though many see this as snub of Australia, it is a smart call when it comes to Volpato’s immediate career.
Currently building momentum at Roma under manager Jose Mourinho, he can use the next two months to continue catching Mourinho’s eye and ensuring he gets regular minutes for the rest of the season.
Regular minutes is something Volpato likely wouldn’t have got with the Socceroos in Qatar. Yet to play senior international football, he wouldn’t have been a starter for Australia against France and would have been lucky to feature off the bench in the following matches.
While a World Cup appearance is the stuff of dreams, can we really blame Volpato for aiming slightly higher?
Though Italy ironically didn’t qualify for Qatar, the reigning European champions will no doubt be World Cup contenders in years to come and Volpato could come to regret making himself ineligible to be a part of that.
Some may call that selfish, but considering Australia’s football system turned him away initially, he is well within his rights to turn them away for now himself.
Volpato isn't the first and won't be the last player caught in such a conflict of international interests.
Craig Johnston infamously turned his back on the Australian football team in favour of England in the 1980s, while Josip Simunic picked Croatia over the Socceroos despite coming through the Australian Institute of Sport.
Both enjoyed very different careers on the international stage with Johnston never making a senior appearance for the Three Lions and Simunic playing over 100 games for Croatia.
Which camp Volpato will fall in, only time will tell, but it's important to stress he hasn't yet closed the door completely on playing for Australia.
Football is a fickle game where fate and fortune can ultimately decide how a career pans out.
With Volpato just at the start of his journey, he's arguably made the right call to leave all paths open for now - even if that means missing out on a World Cup.
