soccer

Robertson eyes 'dream' Cardiff and Australia double

Alex Robertson was born in Scotland while his father and ex-Australia international, Mark, was playing for Dundee [Huw Evans Picture Agency]

Alex Robertson is targeting a "dream" double this year: promotion with Cardiff City and playing for Australia at the World Cup.

Cardiff are top of League One and 11 points clear of the chasing pack outside the automatic promotion places.

Robertson, 22, was frozen out at the start of the season but, since returning to the first team in late October, he has made 24 appearances for the Bluebirds and scored three goals from midfield.

If he keeps impressing, the two-cap Australia international hopes to be included in his country's squad for this summer's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

"That would be a dream. I have to do well here at club level and hopefully I am doing that," said Robertson.

"That's probably the proudest moment of my career so far, playing for my country. If I can keep doing that then that would be unreal."

Robertson has been a fixture in Cardiff's midfield recently, a far cry from the early stages of the campaign when he was out in the cold.

His absence was a surprise to many because he had featured regularly for the Bluebirds in the Championship last season.

Head coach Brian Barry-Murphy, who had worked with Robertson at Manchester City, explained he wanted to see more "intensity" from the midfielder in training.

Since answering that call and regaining his place in the team, Robertson appreciates regular first-team football more than ever.

"After that I thought if I play, if I don't play, anything was better than what was going on," he said.

"I was just grateful to be in any situation and to be playing, I'm really enjoying it.

"It's been nice to get a nice run of games. I just want to play football and to try and help the team with whatever I can."

Despite losing 5-2 at Plymouth Argyle last Saturday, Cardiff are well placed to make an instant return to the Championship.

Robertson won promotion to the second tier with Portsmouth in 2024 when he was on loan from Manchester City, and believes Cardiff have what it takes to get the job done.

"I actually got injured in January in that season, but I think I played about 20 games. So I didn't do the latter end of the season, but obviously I watched every game, I knew how the boys were feeling," Robertson said.

"I've seen it at the club and you just got to stay calm about it. Having the senior boys like Robbo [Callum Robinson], Chambo [Calum Chambers], players like that, helps the younger boys a lot.

"But I think the main thing is to just stay calm and take game by game, prepare for it as we all as we have done all season, keep trying to win these games. That's how we're going to get promoted.

"We want to finish first. It's nice having that gap [to third place], but our main focus is to finish first, win the league.

"I'm personally a winner and I think most of the squad are behind that so that's what we're going to try to do."

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