Perhaps it will require the football equivalent of the last corner pile-up on a Salt Lake City ice rink that is part of Australian sporting folklore to get Ryan McGowan to a second World Cup.
But, even though the Qatar odds aren’t in his favour just now, the St Johnstone defender knows the meaning of ‘never say never’ in sport.
And a path to the finals might yet open up for him, as it did from squad fringe player to two-time starter eight years ago in Brazil.
“I’ll give you a bit of Australian history,” said McGowan. “This is a good story!
“There’s a guy called Steven Bradbury.
“He was a speed skater, he went to the Winter Olympics (in 2002) and he made the (1,000 metres) final.
“It was the last lap and everybody else falls over.
“He just slides around and wins the gold.
20 YEARS AGO TODAY.
Just when you thought you'd seen it all, Australia's Steven Bradbury took gold in the men's 1000m after the whole field crashed in front of him! #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/N6cl8eaIrj
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 16, 2022
“That was my story in 2014!
“Everyone got injured, I was the last one standing and I ended up playing.
“I was borderline to make the squad in the first place but once I was in the 23 I knew that if players were fit I wasn’t going to be getting on.
“First game (Chile) the right-back pulled his hammy at the start of the second half.
“So I went on.
“Then before the second game (Netherlands) Mark Milligan, who used to play for Hibs, was moved to right-back in training.
“I can remember thinking ‘well, I’ve got on, which was more than I thought, that’ll be it’.
“He pulled his hammy as well!
“Ange (Postecoglou) was probably thinking ‘I suppose I’m going to have to play him then!’
“From a position of not thinking I’d be involved, I played in all three games (Spain was the last one) and started two of them.
“Things happen.
“That’s always been my mindset – as long as I’m fit, healthy and playing well, you just never know.
“There won’t be any ‘what ifs’ or excuses.
“I’ve given everything and if I don’t make the squad, so be it, I’ll wish them all the best and support the boys. I’ll have given it my best shot.”
Aussie squad announced next week
Australia will announce their squad at the start of next week – possibly with standby players included – by which time McGowan hopes to have helped Saints to a famous victory against Rangers.
Take a look at the Perth side’s Premiership results (not to mention the opposition’s up-and-down form) and the chances of that happening shouldn’t be dismissed.
“This year we’ve been pretty competitive,” said the former Hearts player.
“I wasn’t here last year but I think that was one of the gripes the supporters had about us – that we weren’t as competitive a team as we should have been.
“Bar Rangers at Ibrox, there hasn’t been a game we’ve lost by more than one. That includes Celtic.
“We know we’re a good squad. We’ve got confidence in each other and we’ve got some good victories.
“That’s while we’ve had injuries as well – it’s why I’ve been running around in midfield.”
Celtic template
McGowan added: “Against Celtic, not only did we show that we could hang in there, we also showed we could cause them problems.
“We know that if we apply ourselves and do the right things then we’re a match for anyone.
“We’ve beaten Hibs and St Mirren, who are above us. We should have drawn against Celtic – I still wake up in the middle of the night thinking how did that happen!
“Sunday is another big test that we’re looking forward to.
“You don’t know what their mindset will be.
“I’d love for us to score first against Rangers and see what happens after that.
“Every team is vulnerable.
“It’s typical football stuff – whoever starts well and takes their chances will win.
“We see this as another opportunity to pick up points.
“Somebody told me we’re only four points off third. We’ve got three games in a week now and who knows where a couple of wins would leave us.”
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