Cristian Volpato Chooses Australia for World Cup Debut

Cristian Volpato didn’t dress it up.

“Something — I don't know — in my heart just said, ‘I think it's time to come home.’”

After years of tug-of-war between two footballing identities, the Sassuolo attacker has finally chosen. The boy who left Sydney for a shot at Serie A is back in green and gold, and on Sunday morning (AEST) in San Diego, he is expected to pull on a Socceroos shirt for the first time against Switzerland.

From Rome to San Diego, via a crossroads

Volpato is 22 now, old enough to understand the weight of the decision that has followed him “24/7 for quite a while”, as he put it. Old enough, too, to admit that at 18, when Roma came calling and Italy’s youth setup opened its doors, the safer path won.

“Playing for Italy also was good and amazing,” he said in a Football Australia interview released on Friday. Back then he rebuffed Graham Arnold’s invitation to join Australia’s 2022 World Cup squad, preferring to wait for a senior Azzurri call-up. As recently as March, he was still talking about Italy.

That chapter has closed. Not with fanfare, but with a quiet, decisive turn toward the country of his birth and a World Cup that Italy will watch from home.

“Maybe when I was 18, maybe I was a bit too young, and maybe I was a bit too scared to make the change straight away,” he said. “Maybe I was in my comfort zone a bit, playing for Italy.”

Comfort has given way to conviction. The lure of a World Cup, and of doing it as a Socceroo, finally tipped the scales.

A heart split in two

Volpato has never pretended this was simple.

“I'm Italian and I'm Australian, so it's actually been a big decision that's always been in my head 24/7 for quite a while,” he said. “It's really hard because it's like people want you to choose something, one or the other.”

That pressure only intensified as his profile grew. Every youth appearance for Italy, every hint of a senior call-up, fed the narrative that Australia had lost another one. Inside the Socceroos camp, though, there was no appetite for a bidding war.

Assistant coach Tony Popovic spent a long time talking to him, but drew a clear line: he would not beg.

Volpato also leaned heavily on close friend Alessandro Circati, the Parma defender who has already committed to Australia. The pair faced each other on the final day of the Serie A season, Sassuolo against Parma, but the real duel was in Volpato’s mind.

“He [Circati] was trying to convince me, and I was like, alright, I'm gonna come, I'm gonna come,” Volpato recalled.

He has now followed through. And when he walked into camp this week, the internal debate finally eased.

“Obviously, I do feel Australian, so it felt really good coming in, being brought in by the boys, and speaking English — Aussie.”

Popovic’s call and a looming debut

Popovic confirmed on Friday that Volpato is “fit and available” to face Switzerland at Snapdragon Stadium and expects him to get minutes after missing the Mexico friendly due to a late arrival in camp.

The staff have pushed him hard to catch up physically. Popovic says he is now looking the sharpest he has since joining the group, his conditioning no longer lagging behind.

Inside the squad, any question of resentment over his late switch has been quickly shut down. Midfielder Connor Metcalfe brushed away a query about whether Volpato’s change of allegiance had caused issues, a sign that, publicly at least, the focus is on what he can add, not where he has been.

Volpato, for his part, is not easing himself in.

“Obviously people are writing us off a lot because we're Australia,” he said. “But I believe in the group, I believe in the coach, I think we've got a really good team, so hopefully we can shock a lot of people.”

Dress rehearsal for the “big dance”

Switzerland offer exactly the kind of stern European test Australia want before their World Cup opener against Turkey in Vancouver on June 13. This is more than a friendly; it’s a dry run.

The midday kick-off in San Diego, the heat, the quick turnaround out of the city — all of it has been set up to mirror the Socceroos’ second group match against the United States on June 19 (June 20 AEST).

“A good dress rehearsal, good last hit-out for players to get minutes in before the big dance in front of us,” Popovic told AAP.

It could also be a landmark day for another newcomer. Striker Tete Yengi is in line for a debut of his own, adding another fresh edge to an attack that has long cried out for unpredictability.

But all eyes will drift back to Volpato. The player who once turned down a World Cup call from Australia now chases that same stage in their colours, determined to prove that this late switch can still define his career.

He wanted time. Now he has none. The World Cup is weeks away, the shirt is waiting, and the question is no longer who Cristian Volpato plays for — it’s how much damage he can do in green and gold.