When the Olyroos take on Argentina on Thursday night in their opening clash of the Olympics, only seven players who helped the side qualify for Tokyo will be in the final 22-man squad.
Key points:
The moment was sealed with a 1-0 win over Uzbekistan. The euphoric scenes on the final whistle were a crystallisation of several years of hard toil, along with the possibility that they would add the title of Olympian to their resumes. "It's definitely rare. There aren't a lot of other sports where you qualify and then don't get to go. Trying to explain that to my friends and family, I had to say, yeah, we've qualified, but I'm not sure I'm going," Tass Mourdoukoutas said."I remember when the final whistle went against Uzbekistan, running and tackling Tom Glover and looking at him saying, 'we've qualified, we're going to the Olympics'.
"I think it was underestimated how tight that group was, and I think that helped get us over the line in the end."Mourdoukoutas conceded he had not had the best of seasons in the A-League competition to earn Olyroos selection. "It was tough to find out that news. I guess luckily enough for me Arnie took the time out of his schedule to give me a call a few days beforehand and let me know," Mourdoukoutas said.
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