"Distance education was hard because of the time difference. "If I had a question I couldn't ask anyone so I had to email someone and wait for a response the next day. But it's all been worth the sacrifices."

Loading

Susnjar started off in Serbia playing for a lower-league team near where his extended family lived before moving to Belgrade to join FK Rad's youth team. After being called up for the Serbia under-17 side, Sunsjar joined Lithuanian team FK Jonava just before his 18th birthday. He was on the move again in 2016 to Romanian outfit Botosani, before taking up residence in the Czech Republic first with FK Teplice ahead of his move to his current side.

"I've lived on my own since I was 17," he said. "In Belgrade, I had an apartment next to the stadium, we had lunch after training but I had to do my own washing, housework, homework and all that. I didn't know much Serbian when I got there. I had some basics, but it took me a good year and a half to learn it properly.

"At home in my house I spoke English to my parents. I went to school and spoke English. I spoke a bit of Serbian with my grandparents, but that wasn't enough to really learn it."

Susnjar has subsequently picked up the Lithuanian and Czech languages and can get by in Romanian, and said joining up with the Socceroos squad, where he knows no-one, is far from daunting.

"I know of them, I have watched the games, I have heard of them, but in person I've not met one of them," he said. "It sounds nerve-wracking but the guys are very welcoming. Everyone is coming here with the same mentality, a new coach, we all want to prove ourselves and go to the World Cup."