You've been ruled out for two months with a knee injury. How does a young footballer deal with an injury like that mentally?
You just have to stay positive and in high spirits. Do the proper rehabilitation and stay professional in the way you go about things. Being young, you probably haven't had as many injuries as the older players so you need to take advice from others too.

What have the older players advised then?
They all say stay positive and look forward to getting back into football. Take care of your body because you're not playing at the moment. Do the right things, such as watching your diet. Make sure you look after yourself or you will get unfit very quickly.

Is there any ill feeling towards Surat Sukha for the reckless tackle?
There's no hard feelings. It was a late tackle but I don't think he went out there to hurt me. Maybe he was told to keep me quiet but I don't think that would have meant to take me out of the game. It just happens in football. Accept it and move on.

Has the injury changed anything with Borussia? Will you still look at moving at season's end?
I've spoken to them and they're aware of the injury. They said 'just make sure you recover properly and we'll go from there'. It hasn't changed anything with regards to heading over. At this point in time I'm still looking at going over to Monchengladbach at the end of the season.

Have you spoken to any of the older players about the right time to go overseas?
Everyone I've spoken to says good things about heading overseas. They say this is a perfect age. When you get older it's a lot harder to secure a deal overseas. It will do your development wonders to be training and playing with better players from a younger age. If it doesn't work out, at least you tried. You're still young enough to come back and give it another crack later.

How about any of the boys overseas in the U19 squad on their first-hand experiences?
I've spoken to Tommy Oar and Kerim Bulut. Tommy is in Holland and Kerem is in the Czech Republic. They both said that it is a little bit different. The mentality and physicality of the game is different to Australia, but they reckon it's a brilliant idea.

Did you ever think you'd be looking at going overseas at this age when you were playing for Bulleen just a couple of years ago?
Ha, definitely not! I never thought I would be playing at the A-League at this stage in my career! It's all happened very fast. I'm used to it now, it's my life. It's a change that happened very quickly, but I've adapted. 

How have you developed since Rini Coolen came in?
Rini's coaching and training sessions are really helping me develop as a footballer. Each coach will bring a different experience and a different mentality to the club. Rini's experience and mentality have definitely helped me. Coming from Holland, he brings something different from Vidmar to Adelaide.

Congratulations on the second place in the U19 Tournament. How do you feel you went?
Our initial objective was to qualify for the U20 World Cup in Colombia and we did that. After that we just wanted to see how far we'd go. We wanted to be the first Australian team to win the tournament but it didn't go our way in the final. Maybe we should have won, but North Korea studied the way we played and adapted and that's what got them over the line in the end.

Can you talk us through the famous victory in the quarter-finals against the UAE? What did Jan Versleijen say after the initial 90 mins?
After 90 minutes it was 2-2. We were the dominant side throughout the whole game
but the two goals they scored were just that, good goals. Jan said to us, "We're the better team. Keep control of the game. Keep the ball, move it around fast and you'll run them off their legs. The goals will come." It showed. We had all of the ball in the second half and we put two goals away.

How do you rate our chances next year in Colombia for the FIFA U20 World Cup?
We have a good chance. People say we're the best U20 Australian generation in a long time. We've got six months. Hopefully some of the other boys can be playing first-team football in the A-League. Going into the final of the U19 tournament will help us with the seeding next year, so hopefully we can get a couple of lesser nations. Not saying they won't all be of a good standard, but it means we can avoid the Germanys and the Brazils.  

What was it like when you went into the Socceroos camp for the Indonesia game?
It was mostly A-League players but it was amazing. I was training with the best players in the A-League. The camp allowed us to see how Pim ran training with the national team. Being there and just watching the boys was a learning experience for me. Even though I didn't make the final 18, it really helped my development. 

Pim advised young players to head overseas as soon as possible. Has Holger touched on the matter?
Holger has made his opinion clear that going overseas is a good thing, but you have to go somewhere that you'll be playing. If you're going to go over, don't get lost and stuck in the reserves. In the end, players have to decide for themselves about going over and if it's the right move.

Before the injury, did you see yourself with a shot for the Asian Cup squad?
I was playing really good football. I thought if I was to continue playing the way I was, Holger would have at least given me an opportunity in one of the friendlies. That would have really shown what I could do and if I deserved to be in the Asian Cup squad.  

This article appeared in the February 2011 issue of Australian FourFourTwo magazine. To buy back copies of this issue call 03-8317-8121 with a credit card to hand.