Matt Garbett will become the first ever current Posh player to participate in a FIFA World Cup if he gets minutes for New Zealand in this summer's tournament in North America.
The Peterborough United midfielder put in an excellent display for the All Whites in a narrow 1-0 friendly defeat to England at the weekend and is excited by the opportunity to participate in a World Cup, a dream he has harboured since he was a child.
"I am buzzing with what lies ahead, I have been in camp for three weeks, I came in a bit earlier to keep ticking along and acclimatise to the conditions because I felt that was important. I am extremely excited, it is a full circle moment for me, it is something that I dreamed about as a kid, to play in a World Cup and here I am.
"Back in 2009, I was in the crowd when we qualified for the 2010 World Cup and I watched the games at the tournament on the TV at home and we never actually lost a game at that tournament, we picked up three draws and still went out.
"I was definitely inspired by that tournament. There are a couple of players still in the squad now that competed back then and the physio who we are all tight with, was there too and he tells us good stories about that competition.
"We have our goals and ambitions in going a step further and get out of the group, we have a lot of belief we can do that, that is our aim and hopefully we can achieve that," Garbett said in conversation with Posh fan Adrian Durham for Talksport (pictured below).
Garbett played on the right hand side of New Zealand's midfield against Thomas Tuchel's England on Saturday night and forced goalkeeper Jordan Pickford into a first half save.
"England are one of the strongest teams in the tournament so to test myself and for the team to test ourselves against top quality opposition was a great experience. I have played in the Olympics before and we came up against strong opposition, so it is nothing new, but it was definitely an enjoyable experience.
"I have played my club football in a few countries now, but I have been in England for about eight months, and you know the country is football crazy. I expect England to do well in the tournament because they have a lot of quality in their squad and they have a good manager in Thomas Tuchel.
"I came to England to play under Darren Ferguson, he left after about eight or nine games. Luke Williams came in and I thought he was brilliant. We went on a bit of a run over Christmas and got close to the play-offs, but the core of the team picked up a few injuries and we struggled a little bit towards the end.
"My game is forward thinking, my numbers were not as high as I wanted last season, but I think I showed glimpses of what I can do. I am pretty ambitious, I go into things optimistic, I am going to give the World Cup a good go. I have played in the Olympics, I am not afraid to show what I can do. Let's see what happens," Garbett said.
