JETS striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos never stopped believing. Never deviated from the track. $ 0 / (min cost $ 0 ) Login or signup to continue reading Now he is a Socceroo.
Stamatelopoulos will on Wednesday be named in the Socceroos squad for World Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh in Dhaka on June 6 and Palestine (Perth) on June 11. He will be the first Jets player to wear the green and gold since Dimi Petratos in 2018. National-team selection caps an incredible 12 months for the 25-year-old, who made his A-League debut for Adelaide in 2017.
Coach Rob Stanton brought the front man back to the Jets after he had spent two years in Greece. Stamatelopoulos' first four seasons in the A-League at Adelaide (2), Western United and Newcastle yielded seven goals. It took just eight rounds to reach that tally.
And he kept banging them away to set a new club record with 17. The longest run Stamatelopous had without scoring was four games. His goals have been crafted in a variety of ways - six headers, four penalties, seven from shots inside the box.
"I have always known that I could do it," Stamatelopoulos said last month after dominating the Jets' awards night. "This is the first season in my whole career where I have played more than two games in a row consistently. I knew once I got an opportunity, this would happen.
"I have always had confidence in my ability." If Stamatelopoulos' league output wasn't enough to grab the attention of Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, he added a brace .
