The Central Coast Mariners striker registered his first international goals at the tournament in South Korea.
Australia striker Mitch Duke has earned praise from head coach Holger Osieck after impressing at the East Asian Cup.
The Central Coast Mariners star was one of the Socceroos’ standout performers in South Korea, making his debut in their opening game against the host nation before scoring his first international goal in the 3-2 defeat to Japan last Thursday and netting again on Sunday against China.
Osieck’s decision to use the tournament as an exercise in discovery has clearly paid dividends with several A-League based players shining on the international stage, but the 64-year-old reserved special praise for Duke and striker partner Tom Juric.
“We should never forget the purpose of our trip – to find new players and I’m pretty confident we are in a good way to identify a couple of new guys,” the German told Football Australia.
“The two boys really showed a lot of promise, in particular Mitch Duke. I hope he keeps going and he is definitely a very promising player.”
Duke is now in with a shot of making it into the Socceroos squad for the World Cup in Brazil next year but the 22-year-old insists his concentration is on having a good season with his club side.
“I just want to keep doing well and improving myself,” he said. “I’ll keep my head down at the Mariners this year and we’ll see what happens.”
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