Sprint legend Usain Bolt bags brace in trial football match with Australian club

Jamaican sprint legend, Usain Bolt, scored his first 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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