Steven Hall, courageous hero of the Young Socceroos’ landmark Under-20 Asian Cup triumph, has been left feeling as if his emotional story had been lifted straight out of a movie.
The 20-year-old joined a distinguished list of goalkeeping shoot-out heroes like Mark Schwarzer, Andrew Redmayne and Mackenzie Arnold when he made the instinctive one-handed save that won Australia its first major soccer trophy in a decade since Ange Postecoglou’s 2015 senior Asian Cup winners.
The dizzying moment in Shenzhen against Saudi Arabia prompted Hall to rush to a pitchside camera and brandish the message on his glove which read ‘for you grandad’ in honour of his grandfather who’d died just a week earlier back home.
Reflecting on Sunday after a night of celebration in China, Hall still sounded incredulous as he said: ‘It was just a dream come true.
‘That’s what you dream as when you’re a goalkeeper, like being in a tournament, in a final, and you save the winning penalty. It was literally like a movie, like you just couldn’t script it. Just really, really happy.’
Looking back on his emotionally difficult week, Hall, who was the youngest-ever A-League goalie at 16 for Adelaide United before he made a move to English Premier League Brighton, felt the experience had only strengthened him.
Australian goalkeeper Steven Hall pulled off this miraculous save to help win the Under-20 Asian Cup for his country
The young custodian revealed the tribute he had written on his gloves for his grandfather
‘Because what I went through throughout the tournament, it was really hard on me, but I look back at it and I say to myself ‘if I can get through this, I can get through anything’,’ he explained.
‘It was a tough week, but everyone in the group got around me, they’re great lads, and they supported me throughout every game.
‘And I knew my grandad was watching me every game. He was with me in the goal. I’m just really, really happy to get the win for him.’
His great moment came with the Young Socceroos leading 5-4 in the shootout, with no penalties missed, when Saudi Arabia’s Bassam Hazazi stepped up as their fifth taker.
‘He was the only player out of the five that I didn’t have my notes written down. So I just kind of went off instinct,’ explained Hall.
‘As he was running up, I had that gut feeling that he was going to go to my right, so I held as long as I can before diving, and when I did, I saw the ball coming sort of behind me, so I thought I’d over-dived.
‘But I gave it a good left hand, and when I saw it hadn’t gone in, I was just like so happy, man. Just a great feeling!’
Hall was hailed by the team coach Trevor Morgan. ‘Stevie’s done it before, so we were expecting it to be honest. I knew he would make a save.
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‘He had a tough week, and that’s one of the things you have to do as a young professional footballer, manage yourself to perform when you’ve got other things to deal with. I had full confidence in him.’
Next stop for Hall, a popular moustachioed and mulleted figure at Brighton, is trying to battle his way into the Premier League outfit’s senior team, but he’s already got an eye on the Young Socceroos’ bid for further glory in the Under-20 World Cup in Chile in September and October.
‘The win here gives great confidence to everyone,’ he said.
‘Coming into this tournament, we weren’t favourites, people doubting us, hadn’t qualified for the World Cup in years, but I think it shows the rest of the teams in the World Cup that Australia is a good team.
‘We know that what we can do now we’ve won this, so it gives great confidence for the lads going into the World Cup.’
