Hibernian Striker Ante Suto Gets First Socceroos Call-Up

Ante Suto, a 25-year-old Croatian-born striker who joined Scottish Premiership club Hibernian last month, has received his first call-up to Australia's national soccer team for upcoming friendlies against Cameroon and Curacao. The matches, part of the FIFA Series, are set for Friday in Sydney and next Tuesday in Melbourne, marking Suto's debut visit to the country despite his lifelong connection to it through heritage.

Suto qualifies for the Socceroos via his father, Anthony, who was born and raised in Melbourne before relocating to Croatia after meeting his wife. Growing up in a small Croatian village of about 2,000 people, Suto embraced his Australian roots early on. "I've been qualified for Australia since I was born," he said. "I was proudly saying through all my childhood that I'm Australian also. Throughout my childhood, all my friends were joking with me that I'm a kangaroo, and they were calling me Anthony." Despite the teasing, Suto has long identified with Australia, watching Socceroos World Cup games as a child, though he admitted supporting Croatia in their 2006 encounter when he was just six years old.

His rapid ascent began in earnest after transferring from...