No, you didn’t miss former Glory striker Billy Mehmet strutting his stuff in Moscow or St Petersburg a couple of months ago.
But the man who made 42 appearances and scored nine goals for the club between 2011 and 2013 was heavily involved in the alternative, ConiFA [Confederation of Independent Football Nations] World Football Cup tournament held in England just before Russia’s mainstream showpiece got underway.
16 teams, representing regions, minorities and stateless peoples that are not recognised as sovereign states or affiliated with FIFA, participated in the third edition of the event which was first run in 2014.
The likes of Iraqi Kurdistan, Greenland, Tibet and Matabeleland all featured, as did Northern Cyprus who reached the final with the now-33-year-old Mehmet leading their attack.
He scored in their opening group game against Karpatalja which ended 1-1, added another in an 8-0 quarter-final rout of Barawa and followed that up with a brace in the semi-final victory over Padania.
Unfortunately for the former Ireland Under-21 international, however, he missed from the spot during the penalty shootout that ultimately decided the final in Karpatalja’s favour.
The tournament marked another interesting chapter in Mehmet’s globe-trotting career which began in his native London with West Ham and subsequently saw him ply his trade in Scotland, Turkey, Thailand, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Northern Cyprus.
But of course it’s his spell here in Australia that we’re keen to focus on and we’d love to get your thoughts on the powerful frontman who played a key role in driving Glory to the 2012 Hyundai A-League Grand Final, while also establishing a reputation as one of the club’s most likeable off-field characters.
So what are your Mehmet memories?
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