Joel King and Zac De Jesus are at differing parts of their football journey but the Sydney FC duo are both looking forward to playing in front of their family and friends at WIN Stadium.
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Shellharbour's Socceroo King will definitely line up for Sydney FC in their Australia Cup clash against reigning A-League champions Central Coast Mariners on Sunday, August 13.
Dapto teenager and Sydney FC scholarship player De Jesus will also be part of the extended squad for the Wollongong fixture, as will Stanwell Park's Gus Hoefsloot.
King and De Jesus dropped by WIN Stadium on Monday to talk up the Round 32 Australia Cup clash, which will be played on August 13 at 3pm and will act as a curtain raiser to the Wollongong Wolves match against Sydney Olympic in the NPL - played at 5:45pm.
De Jesus said he was really looking forward to playing in front of his family and friends.
"It's really exciting actually, especially playing for Sydney FC, I think it is a really good opportunity, I'm looking forward to it a lot," he said.
"I'm hoping to get on the pitch at some point. If I do get on I'll just make the most of it and work hard and do my best.
"Being from here there's going to be a lot of my family and friends in the stands. It's exciting, I can't wait."
The young right-back said he was learning a lot from coach Steve Corica and Sydney FC's older players, particularly Rhyan Grant.
"I'm trying to mould my game on him. So I need to run a lot, use my speed, try and get forward and create chances but also make sure I do my defensive job," he said.
De Jesus is also hopeful of following the path of Shellharbour's King.
"I'd love to have a similar career to Joel, definitely," he said.
"I definitely want to play for the Socceroos one day. I think if I keep working hard, I'll be able to do it."
King returned to Sydney FC on-loan from Danish club Odense Boldklub late last season. The 22-year-old has since re-signed a permanent three-year deal with the A-League club where he first made his name.
The Socceroo, who was part of the Australian squad which reached the round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, said he was excited to be back with Sydney FC and equally excited to be playing in Wollongong in front of family and friends.
"I'm really excited to come and play in front of the fans. I know we've got a fair few fans down here, so it's going to be exciting to play in front of them," King said.
"I've got quite a big family down here, so hopefully all of them can come and cheer me on. I'm excited to play in front of them."
King, the A-League's 2020-21 Young Footballer of the Year, was also excited to be back playing for Sydney.
"Pre-season has been tough but I think all the boys are finally getting into a really good physical state so the boys are fit and we're just excited there is a competitive match around the corner. Hopefully we can win that and continue on in the Cup and keep on playing some competitive games in the pre-season," he said.
King added it was good to see Sydney FC adopt a similar approach to the Mariners in terms of recruiting a lot of young up and coming players.
"There's quite a number of boys that have signed that are under the age of 20. Even Zac is just 17-years-old I think, and he's showed a lot of quality in his first few weeks training," he said.
"I think the club's looking at the younger players a lot more now. It's exciting to see them get a chance and I'm sure they'll do a great job when they get their chance.
"Recently we've had a lot of young boys leave our youth team and go other places and do very well.
"It sort of hurts to see that. It's understandable they go because they have to go somewhere to get their chance.
"But it's good to see that we're giving them more of a chance now.
"But, in saying that in the last couple of years there's still been quite a number of young boys that have gotten a chance, including myself and a few others.
"Though it's going to be good to see a lot more given their chance to shine."
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
