14 years separate Geria and Herrington but their energy and ambition remains the same

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/herrington-lucas/4ApZ8wCi/"]Herrington[/a], at 18 the youngest player in the Socceroos squad and ‌11th youngest in the tournament, has enjoyed a meteoric rise ‌since his professional debut only 17 months ago.[/p][p]"[b]It's special to be at a ‌World Cup at a young age,[/b]" the centre half said after ‌training at Australia's tournament base on Wednesday.[/p][p]"[b]I want to do the best I can to help the country, make the country proud. And I'll do that every ‌time I step onto the field. And every ⁠minute I get.[/b]"[/p][p]Herrington is no ‌stranger to the United States, having played every minute of all 15 games for ​the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/colorado-rapids/jmBZNRn8/"]Colorado Rapids[/a] during the first half of his first Major League Soccer (MLS) season this year.[/p][p]"[b]I probably wouldn't have come ​if I didn't get those minutes in Colorado,[/b]" he said.[/p][embed guid="ca0a3a8d-daa3-440a-a049-cf5c081e5567" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoxkBIjfgrQ" social-type="youtube" /][p]The Brisbane-born defender made his debut for the national team in March but has ⁠made enough of an ​impact to be brought to the U.S. for the World Cup.[/p][p]Herrington is committed to staying grounded, paying credit to the support of the staff, teammates like veteran goalkeeper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ryan-mathew/YBLvziIh/"]Mathew Ryan[/a], and his parents, who will be travelling ‌to Vancouver for Australia's first game against Turkey on June 13.[/p][p]If Herrington's rise has been meteoric, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/geria-jason/EFDlG9Go/"]Geria[/a]'s international career has been very much a slow burn.[/p][embed guid="09d421e4-d5fc-424f-a190-0b41285a6f8a" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aejSKy1UPaI" social-type="youtube" /][p]The 33-year-old right back, who qualified to play for Uganda through his parents, was first capped by then Australia coach Ange Postecoglou in 2016.[/p][p]He missed out on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup squads but got the call from Tony Popovic after his former coach at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/melbourne-victory/Qql6CzOP/"]Melbourne Victory[/a] took over the Socceroos in late 2024.[/p][p]Geria won ‌his second cap eight years after his first and has since become ​a regular in Popovic's squads.[/p][p]"[b]I'm just very grateful that this ‌opportunity has come and that I persisted in working as hard as I did for as long as I did, and believing that one day something like this could happen for myself,[/b]" he said.[/p][p]"[b]I'm still pinching myself, honestly, that I'm part of the final ⁠26 in here in base ⁠camp and in preparing for ‌a World Cup.[/b]"[/p][p]\\[/p]