Brandon Borrello has taken Graham Arnold's call to be "ruthless" to heart and has his sights set on scoring his maiden international goal when he plays his first Socceroos match on Australian soil.
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The right-winger will take another step towards his World Cup dream when the Socceroos clash with Nepal at Canberra Stadium on Thursday.
It's been a whirlwind year for the twice-capped Socceroo, who overcame a serious knee injury to break into the Bundesliga with SC Freiberg in August.
Borrello has since played three matches with the German side and is hoping to take that form into the Socceroos' clash with the minnow nation.
"It's given me a lot of confidence and more calmness to my game in terms of preparing for big opportunities like this," Borrello said.
"With the style Arnie has implemented, every game is a good opportunity to score goals.
"We have so many attacking options and the way we play really suits the amount of players we have."
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The twice-capped Socceroo made his international debut against South Korea in June, before earning a starting spot in their opening World Cup qualifier against Kuwait last month.
Arnold's side kicked off their qualifying campaign with a 3-0 win over the Kuwaitis, but Borrello is yet to put his name on the scoreboard.
Nepal were thrashed 7-0 by Kuwait in their group opener but rebounded to post a 2-0 win over Taiwan, who are bottom of the group having lost their first two matches.
The Canberra clash will be the first time the Socceroos meet Nepal, who are the lowest-ranked nation of their qualifying group at world No.166.
"They had that result against Kuwait but the way Arnie has spoken to us, he wants us to focus on our game and not how they're going to play," Borrello said.
"Every team is an opportunity to go out and get points. We're first in our group and the expectations are to win, so that's what we're planning to do."
Borrello will use the Socceroos' qualifying journey to Qatar as an opportunity to stamp himself into starting squad.
"I've never gone to an Olympics or a World Cup so this is a really good opportunity and I'll have to make the most of it," Borrello said.
"The World Cup is the dream but the most important time is now because we have to perform well.
"If I don't perform well or consistent enough in the qualifying rounds and if the team doesn't go to the World Cup, then what was the point of all this? We have to be on our a-game the whole time."
WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
Thursday: Socceroos v Nepal at Canberra Stadium, 8pm
Lucie Bertoldo
Lucie Bertoldo is a sports reporter for the Canberra Times.
Lucie Bertoldo is a sports reporter for the Canberra Times.
