It was the shirt-swapping drama at the World Cup that had Australian football fans gripped.
After initially pushing for French superstar Kylian Mbappe’s shirt, Socceroos striker Jason Cummings turned his attention to Olivier Giroud, who had just put on a striking masterclass against the Aussies in a 4-1 victory.
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However, the French striker snubbed Cummings and “walked right past” the Central Coast Mariners star who claimed Giroud said he “pretended he never spoke English.”
Eventually Giroud caught wind of Cummings’ side of the story and cheekily tweeted an image of a Socceroos jersey from Jackson Irvine with the caption, “Hi @jacksonirvine— how is my English mate?” alongside laughing emojis.
But in the latest episode of A-Leagues All Access, we get to see how the drama was resolved courtesy of Cummings who strutted into Mariners training with a Tai Tuivasa T-shirt on and a fez on his head which read, ‘I love Turkey’.
“I got a message from Giroud this morning,” Cummings said.
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“He messaged me. He messaged me on Insta. DM’ed me. I’ll show you, bro.”
Cummings then told his French Mariners teammate Beni Nkololo that he’d “need you to translate”, before continuing to tell the rest of the squad that he had indeed received a message from Giroud.
“Swear to God lad, he messaged me on Insta.
“I’ve seen it this morning, I was like, ‘Oh, f***.’
“I s*** myself. I thought someone was winding me up.”
Cummings then sat down in his spot in the locker room as his Mariners teammates gathered around, hanging on the striker’s every word as he read out what Giroud had sent him on Instagram.
“Hi bro, what’s up,” Cummings said.
“I’m sorry about the misunderstanding, but your mate Jackson asked me to swap shirts first and wanted to keep my second jersey which was symbolic for me because I’d just equalled Thierry Henry’s goal record in that game, winky face.
“Anyway, I would like to send you my Milan AC jersey if you’d like. Let me know man.
“Take care, Oli G.”
The dressing room erupted with joy as Cummings yelled out, “Oli G.”
The late jersey swap became Instagram official on January 24 when Cummings posted photos of him holding Giroud’s AC Milan shirt, with the Frenchman also holding up Cummings’ Mariners jersey.
All’s well that ends well.