Usain Bolt Scores A Brace In Australian Club Mariners' Trial Match
Jamaican sprint legend, Usain Bolt, scored his first
two goals for Central Coast Mariners in an A-League trial match against second
division club Macarthur South West United on Friday.
The legendary Olympian started up front alongside
former Aston Villa striker Ross McCormack.
McCormack, on loan from Aston Villa, headed in the
Mariners’ first goal in the eighth minute. Jordan Murray nodded in their second
in the 42nd minute.
With the Mariners 2-0 ahead, and after previously
sending a header wide of the post, Bolt netted his first goal, peeling away
from a defender and firing beneath the goalkeeper.
And he followed that up with his second goal, tapping
in from close-range after a defensive mix-up to wrap up the Mariners’ 4-0 win.
Bolt expressed his delight at his headline-grabbing
debut.
“My first start and scoring two goals, it’s a good
feeling,” he told reporters after the game.
“I’m happy I could come here and show the world I’m
improving. I’m keen to be a Mariner, to play my best and get into the team.”
Bolt has taken steps into professional football
after hanging up his running shoes, having won eight Olympic gold medals during
his sprinting career.
An outspoken Manchester United fan, the 32-year-old
has previously trained with Borussia Dortmund, and played in Soccer Aid at Old
Trafford.
He hopes to win a permanent contract with the
Mariners, and his two goals on Friday will have done nothing to harm his
chances.
Indeed, Dortmund playmaker Mario Gotze, the man who
scored Germany’s winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final, insists that Bolt
can make it in the professional game.
“I think [Bolt] can make it. I don’t really know the
level of the Australian league and I don’t know the teams there,” Gotze said.
“He is a sportsman and he has a lot of abilities
that are important to be successful in football, too.”
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