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Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak has made the decision to retire immediately from international football, meaning he will not take part in the 2019 Asian Cup, to be held next year in the United Arab Emirates.
Jedinak made the announcement via his Instagram account.
“I can confirm that after much deliberation I have made the decision to retire from playing international football,” said Jedinak.
“As a young boy growing up it was my dream to play for Australia and to pull on the famous green and gold shirt to represent my country. To have been given the opportunity to not only fulfil that dream, but to have done it 79 times, and many of which as captain, makes me incredibly proud and thankful.
“The countless unbelievable moments that I have experienced will stay with me forever, and I can honestly say that looking back I’ve had some of the best times of my life on the pitch playing for the Socceroos.
“It is an enormous privilege to represent your country and one I did not take lightly. Words will never be able to do justice the feeling of immense pride I felt when representing Australia. I gave everything I had in every single game I played to try and achieve success for our nation.
“However, after a huge amount of time reflecting and discussing with those closest with me, I feel that it is the right time to move aside in order to focus on my club football and prolonging that journey.
“Looking back, I feel blessed to be able to leave with memories that will last a lifetime. The feeling of captaining our country to Asian Cup glory in 2015, and to have been able to contribute to achieving success for Australia, will stay with me forever. Additionally being able to captain the team, and score, in two World Cups is something I could only have dreamed about as a boy. There are just too many highlights to mention them all.
“I would like to thank all of those who helped make it all possible. Thank you to everyone at the FFA, the team management and all of my teammates throughout the years. It’s been an incredible journey alongside you all. Thank you to my family for your unwavering love and support throughout my international career.
“And finally I have to say a special thank you to the Australian fans for believing in me and supporting me through thick and thin. I’ve tried to do you all proud every time I’ve stepped out on to the pitch. We have an exciting generation of players coming through and I now can’t wait to support the team in the future.”
The Socceroos skipper earned 79 caps for Australia, and kicked 20 goals at international level.
Most recently he proved to be a crucial player in the Socceroos’ world cup campaign. In November 2017 he scored a hat-trick against Honduras to help Australia qualify, and scored two penalty goals at the world cup earlier this year.
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