Australia forward Mitch Duke announces retirement from international football

[p]The 35-year-old ‌represented [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/australia/xSrf6qMM/"]Australia[/a] in 2022 World Cup in ‌Qatar, scoring a headed goal against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tunisia/QqZVYk95/"]‌Tunisia[/a] that secured the country's first World Cup victory in 12 years.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/duke-mitchell/zDFlzabo/"]Duke[/a] also played ‌a key role in helping ⁠Australia's qualification campaign ‌for the 2026 World Cup, scoring the ​winner against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/saudi-arabia/biSY8ox4/"]Saudi Arabia[/a] in the qualifiers last year. However, he ​missed out on the final squad selection for the tournament in North America.[/p][p][b]"After ⁠a lot ​of reflection, the time has come for me to officially announce my retirement from international football,"[/b] Duke said in a ‌statement on Saturday.[/p][embed guid="3db34e08-8015-433b-84d8-720f7cd4e902" url="https://x.com/Socceroos/status/2075777347303756004" social-type="twitter" /][p]"As a kid growing up in Australia, I dreamed of wearing the green and gold just once. To have gone on to represent my country 50 times is a dream come true 50 times over, and a privilege I never took for ‌granted.[/p][p][b]"While I will cherish every memory, ​scoring for Australia at the 2022 ‌FIFA World Cup remains the absolute highlight of my career. It has been the greatest honour of my life to pull on the Socceroos ⁠jersey and ⁠represent our nation."[/b][/p]