“You can say you got an international cap before your brother,” are the comments to Pascoe Vale’s Peter Deng from the CB Smith grandstand.
Peter – 1; Thomas – 0.
Not that it really matters: “We’re good mates,” Peter says, as Thomas talks to others on the sideline.
It’s a cold night in Fawkner, with the NPL Victoria fixture accompanied by a couple hundred family, friends and rusted-on supporters, and the smell of the canteen.
It’s a far cry from the intoxicating support blanketing Stade de l’Amitié in Benin, where Deng made his debut for the South Sudan national team in a 4-1 defeat, the second of a two-leg Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier against Benin in late March.
In the process he beat Moreland City’s Apai Ukuno to a maiden cap (the latter still waiting to debut despite being involved in two camps), and became another in the list of current NPL senior internationals alongside Dandenong Thunder’s Faisal Sakhizada (Afghanistan) and Richmond SC’s Josh Valadon (Mauritius).
The older brother of Melbourne Victory youngster Thomas, Peter contends it was a chance opportunity that led him to face off against the likes of English Premier League players Stéphane Sessègnon and Rudi Gestede.
“It all happened so quickly,” Deng said.
“The call-up came two weeks into the [NPL] season, it was all very rushed and I had to ring the coach and say I’m leaving tomorrow night, it was that rushed.
“It came out of nowhere. I took my opportunity, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into.”
That call-up for the 23-year-old was a culmination of almost two decades of growing up with football, from playing in city streets in Africa throughout his adolescence to suburban grounds in Australia during his early adulthood.
“I grew up in Kenya, so it wasn’t really organised, just playing on the street,” Deng says.
“We organised our tournaments, games, just playing for fun.
“That way, in doing that, you pick up a lot of skills, not so much the fundamentals.
“As a 10-year-old I moved to Australia, and in 2005 I started playing organised football in Adelaide communities. I moved to Victoria in 2014 and played half a season with Green Gully.”
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On August 17, 2014, Peter Deng steps onto the Knights Stadium pitch in Sunshine. Green Gully face off against Melbourne Knights at Somers Street.
In a season where the former VPL Champions are languishing in the lower echelons of the table – not low enough for the threat of relegation to eventuate, but not high enough to generate any real cheer – this contest ends up summing up their season.
Down 4-0 at half time, Gully rally to score three times in the second half, finishing just short of a miraculous comeback.
However, that contest saw the emergence of a then 21- and 17-year-old pair of brothers in Victoria – #16: Thomas Deng, and #19: Peter Deng.
Playing on opposite side of defence as Gully’s respective fullbacks, it would be one of the last times the two played together, with Thomas being noticed and subsequently signed by Melbourne Victory to their youth team, while Peter headed back to his former home in South Australia to play in their NPL. However, things didn’t quite go to plan, and the older Deng headed back to Victoria.
“I ended up moving back to SA to play for White City in NPL over there, but I injured my ankle two weeks into the season and came back home and took the rest of the year off,” he says.
“For eight months I did rehab and in the gym. I trialled for a couple of teams this season – Bulleen and South Melbourne – but wasn’t successful there.
“I ended up at Pascoe vale two weeks before the season started.”
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On March 28, 2016, Peter Deng steps onto the Stade de l’Amitié pitch in Benin, preparing for his maiden international appearance after earlier being told by coach Lee Sung-Jea that he’ll feature in the XI.
It was during his time for Pascoe Vale, having not yet played a senior game for the club, where the South Sudanese team got in contact with him, along with Moreland City’s Apai Ukuno, who had moved to Melbourne from Brisbane.
“For the South Sudanese team we don’t really have players that are in Europe,” Deng says.
“Most are based in Africa up north in Khartoum and Egypt. Then you’ve got players in the USA, Australia, a few in lower division Germany.”
The assignment: two World Cup qualifying matches against Benin. And Deng, still on the return from injury in the NPL Victoria, prepared to face some well-known faces in global football.
“You’ve got players playing in the Premier League, Ligue One, Switzerland, Austria – it’s a quality side we came up against. I got my starting debut in the second game,” he says.
The result was an credible 4-1 defeat, with Sessognon scoring a brace, and former Le Mans striker Mickaël Poté and Red Bull Salzburg player Jodel Dossou also getting on the scoresheet.
For South Sudan, the solitary goal went to Atak Lual, a local league player who became the first countryman to score an away goal, and also holds the record for scoring the winner in South Sudan’s first ever competitive victory – against Equatorial Guinea in 2015.
“The calibre of players was unbelievable. You can tell why they’re playing at that level, they’re very sharp, first touch is perfect, they’re fit, they can run all day, and they know exactly what to do with the ball when they get it,” Deng says.
“Playing in front of a crowd of 20,000 was unbelievable. You can’t hear yourself talking to the guy next to you because the vuvuzelas are very prominent, that’s all you hear.
“It was hard to focus on the game and try what you could.”
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On April 22, Peter Deng steps onto the CB Smith Reserve pitch in Bentleigh. He’s come full circle since his NPL introduction in 2014, finally breaking through into the Pascoe Vale starting XI and debuting in a 4-1 defeat to Bentleigh Greens, some two months after signing for the club.
Back in Australia, the Deng family has had plenty to keep track of since the Dengs’ Green Gully days.
Alongside Peter’s achievements, Thomas has made his Melbourne Victory debut and made Australian youth team selection.
“It’s been an exciting journey tracking his journey out of high school, signing for the youth and the seniors and representing Australia at a junior level. The transition has been very rapid,” Peter says.
“We’re good mates. When we were kids playing in the backyard, I used to push him around a little bit but he’s grown a bit now, I’ve toughened him up.
“He’s a big boy now, I can’t do that to him now. He’s humble, he’s focused, he wants to go as far as he can so he puts his head down and keeps working.”
For 23-year-old Peter, the immediate focus is simple: consolidating his Pascoe Vale spot in order to continue earning national team opportunities.
“It’s been a crazy 18 months. It’s a good culture with the boys. It’s a good place to be,” he says.
“I’ve got a good opportunity to solidify my position so I’ve just got to work on being consistent and trying to improve each game.
“I’d [also] like to get more caps for the south Sudanese national team, it’s an amazing opportunity and even though the country is so young, it’s such an honour to represent them.
“I think if I can play more there and get some experience there I can take that to a club level.”
In the meantime, he can reflect on the achievement of representing a national team, especially for a young country whose mere footballing presence on the world stage has been cause of great joy for its citizens.
Feature Image: Graeme Furlong