‘Pretended he never spoke English!’ - Mbappe & Giroud brutally snubbed shirt swap requests from Australia star Cummings

• Socceroos faced France in World Cup opener
• Scottish-born striker wanted prized memento
• Was knocked back by two superstar forwards

WHAT HAPPENED? The Scottish-born striker, who now plies his trade in the A-League for the Central Coast Mariners and has two caps for the Socceroos to his name, stepped off the bench during a group stage opener against France at Qatar 2022. Cummings desperately wanted a memento to remind him of that outing, but two world champions snubbed his efforts to land a prized jersey.

WHAT THEY SAID: Cummings has told The Project: "After the France game, I actually tried to get Mbappe – forget Giroud, I went for the top boy Mbappe – and he told me to meet him in the changing rooms. So I went to the changing room and the kit man was there and I gave him my top and 10 minutes later he came out with my jersey and says: ‘Nah, absolutely not, [Mbappe] doesn’t want to swap’.

“So when I was walking back to my changing room and I’ve seen Giroud and I’m walking, as handsome as ever, and I asked him, ‘Giroud, please man, can I get your shirt man? I’m a big fan, can I get your shirt?’ And he just walked past me, pretended he never spoke English! And he’s been in the Premier League for 10 years! He just walked right past me!”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: While Cummings was unable to take possession of a French shirt, Australia team-mate Cameron Devlin did land the jackpot when swapping jerseys with Lionel Messi at the end of the Argentine superstar’s 1,000th competitive appearance.

IN THREE PHOTOS:

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WHAT NEXT? Australia bowed out of the 2022 World Cup at the hands of Argentina in the last-16, with the Albiceleste going on to claim the ultimate prize as they edged out France on penalties at the end of a thrilling final.