{"id":251397,"date":"2026-07-04T01:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T01:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/04\/if-you-want-to-reach-out-im-here-football-icons-touching-message-to-shattered-aussie-teen-sensation\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T01:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T01:30:00","slug":"if-you-want-to-reach-out-im-here-football-icons-touching-message-to-shattered-aussie-teen-sensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/04\/if-you-want-to-reach-out-im-here-football-icons-touching-message-to-shattered-aussie-teen-sensation\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018If you want to reach out, I\u2019m here\u2019: Football icon\u2019s touching message to shattered Aussie teen sensation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Swedish football legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic has offered words of support for Lucas Herrington after the Australian teenager missed his spot-kick during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/football\/fifa-world-cup-2026-australia-vs-egypt-live-socceroos-team-news-start-time-next-game-mo-salah-fitness-updates-in-dallas\/news-story\/bd39b9656b40e316fb5e9997bc1cbea5\" title=\"www.foxsports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the Socceroos\u2019 penalty shootout against Egypt on Saturday morning AEST<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Australia was eliminated from the World Cup after Harry Soutar and Herrington botched spot-kicks during a tense shootout, with Egypt progressing to the Round of 16.<\/p>\n<p>Herrington, who last month became the Socceroos\u2019 youngest World Cup starter, looked distraught after hitting the crossbar with the team\u2019s fourth attempt, all but sealing Australia\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n<div class=\"e5mrwj-0 jpgUYc\"><amp-iframe width=\"16\" height=\"9\" title=\"Minutely\" layout=\"responsive\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-top-navigation\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" referrerpolicy=\"unsafe-url\" src=\"https:\/\/snippet.tldw.me\/amp\/amp-launcher.html?publisher=204500&amp;placement=4280\" class=\"i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined\" i-amphtml-layout=\"responsive\" id=\"i-amp-0\"><i-amphtml-sizer style=\"display:block;padding-top:56.25%\"\/><amp-img layout=\"fill\" src=\"https:\/\/content.foxsports.com.au\/fs\/electrode\/poster-fallback.png\" placeholder=\"true\" i-amphtml-ssr=\"\" data-hero=\"\" class=\"i-amphtml-layout-fill i-amphtml-layout-size-defined\" i-amphtml-layout=\"fill\"><\/amp-img><\/amp-iframe><\/div>\n<p><i><b>Get all the latest football news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/newsletter-sign-up?utm_source=FootballArticle&amp;utm_medium=TextLink&amp;utm_campaign=signup\" title=\"www.foxsports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up now &gt;<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-15rcxg2-0 kJtnfi\"><amp-ima-video id=\"body-3-0\" width=\"1.77\" height=\"1\" layout=\"responsive\" data-tag=\"https:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/ads?ad_rule=1&amp;cmsid=2492325&amp;correlator=1783133107338&amp;cust_params=pagetype%3DAMPArticle&amp;description_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxsports.com.au%2Ffootball%2Fworld-cup%2Fif-you-want-to-reach-out-im-here-legends-words-of-support-for-aussie-teen-after-wc-heartbreak%2Fnews-story%2F7848451590af95963bb834495a28f6b0&amp;env=vp&amp;gdfp_req=1&amp;impl=s&amp;iu=%2F21780812979%2Ffoxsports%2Fstory-amp%2Ffootball%2Fworld-cup%2Fstory&amp;output=xml_vast3&amp;sz=640x480&amp;unviewed_position_start=1&amp;vid=933256\" data-poster=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/pmd\/images\/2026\/07\/04\/933260_640x360_large_20260704104055.jpg\" class=\"i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined\" i-amphtml-layout=\"responsive\"><i-amphtml-sizer style=\"display:block;padding-top:56.4972%\"\/><source src=\"https:\/\/foxsportspmd-a.akamaihd.net\/free\/geoblock\/2026\/07\/04\/DVU_040726_FOT_DOHERTY_CROSS_NO_OLAY_202607041011\/DVU_040726_FOT_DOHERTY_CROSS_NO_OLAY_202607041011_2628.mp4\" type=\"video\/mp4\"\/><\/amp-ima-video><\/p>\n<p>Socceroos lose to Egypt on penalties | 12:01<\/p>\n<p><amp-analytics type=\"adobeanalytics\" id=\"adobeanalytics\" class=\"i-amphtml-layout-fixed i-amphtml-layout-size-defined\" style=\"width:1px;height:1px;\" i-amphtml-layout=\"fixed\"\/><\/div>\n<p>\u201cLucas is such a great lad. Has a great head on his shoulders. Great professional,\u201d Socceroos teammate Aziz Behich told media after the loss.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just told him for him to even go up and put the ball down was enough for us. Expect big things from him in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>READ MORE<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>KEEPER SWITCH:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/football\/world-cup\/massive-massive-call-popa-explains-bombshell-decision-as-wc-image-stuns\/news-story\/d1494c004d5ad3002be4de02388ee71a\" title=\"www.foxsports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> Popa explains bombshell 119th-min call<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018RECKLESS\u2019: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/football\/world-cup\/fifa-world-cup-2026-australia-vs-egypt-socceroos-fuming-over-uruguayan-referee-after-jordan-bos-injury-tackle\/news-story\/c4bf985688cad4575b1cf1be4cf91562\" title=\"www.foxsports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Heat on ref as \u2018terrible\u2019 tackle leaves Aussies seething<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<figure class=\"sc-11i7hbm-0 eUyOEq\"><amp-img alt=\"Australia's Lucas Herrington. AP Photo\/Gareth Patterson\" src=\"https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/30077ef59b4b618cce3abd1ae341c7d3\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/30077ef59b4b618cce3abd1ae341c7d3?width=320 320w, https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/30077ef59b4b618cce3abd1ae341c7d3?width=640 640w, https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/30077ef59b4b618cce3abd1ae341c7d3?width=768 768w\" layout=\"responsive\" attribution=\"test\" class=\"i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined\" i-amphtml-layout=\"responsive\"><i-amphtml-sizer style=\"display:block;padding-top:56.25%\"\/><\/amp-img><figcaption class=\"sc-11i7hbm-1 gSnntl\"><span>Australia&#8217;s Lucas Herrington. AP Photo\/Gareth Patterson<\/span><span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Speaking on America\u2019s Fox Sports coverage, Ibrahimovi\u0107 encouraged the 18-year-old Herrington to \u201creach out\u201d if he needed any support following the heartbreaking error.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPenalty is like lottery. You score, you become a hero, you don\u2019t score, sadly you become zero,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want to reach out to Herrington. You\u2019re 18 years old, you\u2019re young, this is just the beginning of your career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou stepping up there, you showed a lot of courage, not everybody will do that. My friend, you\u2019re the best. Don\u2019t listen to the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to step up there to shoot that penalty, and it\u2019s a moment of seconds. \u201cEither it goes well, or it goes not. But listen, Herrington, if you want to reach out, I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>French superstar Thierry Henry continued: \u201cDon\u2019t be upset; you go there taking it, you miss. I feel for you, but keep your head up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m thinking about the guy that allowed him to go. You should (say), \u2018No, this is not on you. We\u2019re going.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo fair play to (Herrington). I know you missed, but we\u2019ll see you again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to media after the loss, Herrington revealed he knew he was going to be Australia fourth kicker if a penalty shootout eventuated, with the order locked and loaded before the match.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe practised (penalties) during the week and I made my penalties,\u201d Herrington said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe coaching staff trusted me, I was confident going into it, I knew where I wanted to put it, unfortunately, it is just part of football, I missed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cObviously (the loss) is heartbreaking, after so much effort, we wanted to go through, but that\u2019s just football.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-15rcxg2-0 kJtnfi\"><amp-ima-video id=\"body-26-0\" width=\"1.77\" height=\"1\" layout=\"responsive\" data-tag=\"https:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/ads?ad_rule=1&amp;cmsid=2492325&amp;correlator=1783133107334&amp;cust_params=pagetype%3DAMPArticle&amp;description_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxsports.com.au%2Ffootball%2Fworld-cup%2Fif-you-want-to-reach-out-im-here-legends-words-of-support-for-aussie-teen-after-wc-heartbreak%2Fnews-story%2F7848451590af95963bb834495a28f6b0&amp;env=vp&amp;gdfp_req=1&amp;impl=s&amp;iu=%2F21780812979%2Ffoxsports%2Fstory-amp%2Ffootball%2Fworld-cup%2Fstory&amp;output=xml_vast3&amp;sz=640x480&amp;unviewed_position_start=1&amp;vid=933237\" data-poster=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/pmd\/images\/2026\/07\/04\/933238_640x360_large_20260704054733.jpg\" class=\"i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined\" i-amphtml-layout=\"responsive\"><i-amphtml-sizer style=\"display:block;padding-top:56.4972%\"\/><source src=\"https:\/\/foxsportspmd-a.akamaihd.net\/free\/geoblock\/2026\/07\/04\/DVU_040726_FOT_OKON_FUMES_SITE_202607040539\/DVU_040726_FOT_OKON_FUMES_SITE_202607040539_2628.mp4\" type=\"video\/mp4\"\/><\/amp-ima-video><\/p>\n<p>Socceroos FUME after Bos is taken out | 00:30<\/p>\n<p><amp-analytics type=\"adobeanalytics\" id=\"adobeanalytics\" class=\"i-amphtml-layout-fixed i-amphtml-layout-size-defined\" style=\"width:1px;height:1px;\" i-amphtml-layout=\"fixed\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Last week, Herrington contributed a team-high ten defensive interventions during Australia\u2019s group-stage match against Paraguay to help the Socceroos keep a clean sheet and qualify for the knockouts.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/football\/world-cup\/probably-be-kicking-themselves-aleague-clubs-30m-blunder-for-socceroos-teen-revealed\/news-story\/5127305c850765223e939c5008434a97\" title=\"www.foxsports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">He has been linked with a move to La Liga champions Barcelona<\/a>, where he\u2019s predicted to fetch a price of somewhere between $23 million to $30 million, according to the CIES Football Observatory.<\/p>\n<p>The current Australian record is Leicester City\u2019s $26 million purchase of Harry Souttar from Stoke City in 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/football\/world-cup\/if-you-want-to-reach-out-im-here-legends-words-of-support-for-aussie-teen-after-wc-heartbreak\/news-story\/7848451590af95963bb834495a28f6b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Swedish football legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic has offered words of support for Lucas Herrington after the Australian teenager missed his spot-kick during the Socceroos\u2019 penalty shootout against Egypt on Saturday morning AEST. Australia was eliminated from the World Cup after Harry Soutar and Herrington botched spot-kicks during a tense shootout, with Egypt progressing to the Round [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-251397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}