Kuol is aware there are plenty of doubters ready to write him off as a player due to his stumbles at Hearts,including back home - but he’s also aware he is a long way from the finished product and is putting his focus where it needs to be to realise his magnificent potential.
There have been critics,too,of Newcastle’s choice of Scotland as a loan destination for him,but those close to Kuol say it was always intended to be a soft landing spot for his first experience in European football,due to the cultural similarities with Australia and familiar faces in the Hearts squad,and only the start of an 18-month plan to prepare him for the top level.
Garang Kuol looks back on his World Cup experience,and his brush with Lionel Messi,with a sense of disbelief.Credit:Getty
He is tracking his nutrition,working through an individual strength and conditioning plan to build out his wiry frame and improve his explosiveness,endurance and intensity,and refining his touch with a top one-on-one technical coach.
“Everyone you[play against] is here to fight. There’s big boys everywhere,” Kuol said.
“But I feel like game by game,I keep adapting to the level of physicality. It’s definitely getting better,my physicality. I’m tracking my food,my weight every day ... I’m just trying to stay focused on doing all that stuff,because it does make the difference.
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“It’s been good to get that experience in. Training with the top players every day,with men - I think that’s the key to developing.
“The most important thing is what happens in training,and what happens when I get my opportunity on the pitch. That’s where all my attention’s going. I’m just trying to get as much minutes as possible,and that’s up to me,and what I do. Hopefully,I can get some stats up on the board.”
Kuol is looking forward to coming home and playing in front of Socceroos fans,which is something he’s yet to dosince making his debut last September in a friendly in New Zealand,as well as reuniting with Australia’s World Cup squad,who had to immediately fly back to their clubs when they were knocked out of the tournament by Argentina,the eventual champions.
“I’ve sort of moved on from it,but when I look at photos and stuff from the World Cup,it’s like a mad memory - like something I can’t believe I was a part of,” he said.
“Now I’m just focusing on the next journey. It’ll be good to see the boys again and obviously to play in front of our fans - I’m hoping we can get the win for them because during the World Cup,their support was amazing,and it drove us,so I think they deserve that.”
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