It’s been a whirlwind A-League Men’s season for Shepparton’s Garang Kuol, with the 17-year-old capturing the attention of Australia’s soccer fraternity.
Kuol, a former Goulburn Valley Suns junior, now plies his trade at A-League side Central Coast Mariners, and the youngster has his sights set on big things.
“It’s just crazy,” Kuol said.
“All this stuff happened so quick, last year I was playing under-20s and now I’m making appearances with the A-League team, it just makes me happy to see that the hard work actually gets you somewhere.”
It has been a rapid rise to the headlines for Kuol, with the attacker scoring off the bench in his first senior Mariners appearance against National Premier League side APIA Leichhardt Tigers in an FFA Cup (now Australia Cup) quarter-final in December last year.
Juggling school with training, Kuol is enjoying his time at that Mariners, saying coach, Nick Montgomery and assistant, Sergio Raimundo, push him every session, with expectations always there to be met.
“It’s the perfect environment for someone like me and that’s exactly where I want to be, around great players because it pushes me and makes me better,” he said.
“I try and go to school as much as I can but sometimes if I finish training too late then there becomes no point, so I just go in whenever I can and just do the rest online.
“I’m doing what I love, it makes me happy.”
The young star made his second appearance off the bench in the FFA Cup semi-final against Sydney FC, before coming on as a late second-half substitute in the cup final against Melbourne Victory in February.
With plenty of senior minutes in his legs, it was only a matter of time before Kuol made his A-League debut, playing almost half an hour and scoring a goal in the Mariners’ 5-0 defeat of Wellington on April 5.
From this game on, Kuol has been a regular off the bench in the A-League, getting an assist against the Phoenix on April 17 in Wellington, before sealing an F3 derby win against the Newcastle Jets on April 23, with a goal just two minutes after coming on.
He said scoring in the A-League felt pretty different to scoring in the under-20s.
“There’s a big difference in the passion, when I scored the amount of joy that goes around the whole team, it’s just great,” he said.
“Our team goal is to play finals and hopefully do well in them but for me personally it’s just to keep playing consistently, play well and bring something to the team.”
With his older brother, Alou, currently based at German club SV Sandhausen, Kuol said there was no added pressure following in his footsteps, with the goal of playing in Europe remaining a dream.
“It’s sort of exciting because it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was a little boy so it would just be like a dream come true,” he said.
“Short-term (goal) would be playing here consistently and playing well and obviously I want to go and play at the highest level possible, consistently.”
Now living in Gosford where the Central Coast side is based, Kuol said he kept in touch with a lot of friends in Shepparton, with the teenager checking the GV Suns results when he can.
He will be hoping to continue his good form off the bench on Saturday, with the Mariners taking on Western United at home in an important match in the finals race.
“I honestly feel like if I’m selected in the team then, if I play I always hope to make a positive impact on the field,” Kuol said.
The Mariners take on Western United at 4.05pm on Saturday at the Central Coast Stadium.