Australia face Japan and Thailand in two decisive 2018 World Cup qualifiers starting in Saitama later this month, before Australia host the War Elephants in Melbourne on September 5.

Jeggo, 25, acknowledged the importance of the qualifiers and wants to do his bit to help Australia progress to Russia and get that elusive maiden cap.

A-League players are unlikely to be considered for selection for the qualifiers given they'll be out of season, which may open the door for Jeggo who'll be fully fit having already made five club appearance in 2017/18.

Jeggo plies his trade with Sturm Graz, who commenced their domestic campaign last month and have already played a series of Europa League qualifiers.

The midfielder has been named in four Australia camps, across eight games, but is yet to earn his international debut. He appeared set to debut in March before injury intervened.

“It’s another big opportunity,” Jeggo told FourFourTwo.

“The season starting a little bit earlier here, if I can get a lot of minutes and games under my belt, that’ll stand me in good stead.

“It’s up to me to do everything here to make sure I’m on the radar. Then it’s up to the boss.”

Jeggo in training at the Confederations Cup

He added: “Hopefully the debut will come soon. Every time you go in to camp you want to make an impression and I’m desperate to get that first cap.

“It’s up to me to make sure I’m playing well enough for my club. When I do go into camp, I train well and give the boss a decision to make.

“There’s a lot of quality there and you just need to look at the level where the boys are playing and have performed this season.”

Jeggo received a late call-up to Australia’s Confederations Cup squad, following a groin injury to skipper Mile Jedinak.

The ex-Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory man got the call-up on the first day of pre-season at Sturm Graz, a few days after a holiday in Portugal and flew out for Russia a few days later.

The situation meant Jeggo missed an important chunk of Graz’s pre-season program and, given he didn’t play for Australia in Russia, has left him fighting for his first-team spot so far this term.

“That’s football. If you gave me that opportunity, I would've bitten your hand off, I’d take it 10 times out of 10 to go away to the Confeds Cup,” Jeggo said.

“At no point did I look at it and think ‘oh no I’m going to miss pre-season’. I was buzzing to go away and it was a really good experience.

“I have missed a little bit of pre-season which has put me on the back foot a little bit here. These things happen in football.

“It’s about me making sure when I’m training and playing, I’m doing as well as I can. It’s another big year this year. I need to be playing regularly here and I want to be.”

 

Great way to start the season 🙌🏼 ⚫️⚪️

A post shared by James Jeggo (@jimmyjeggo) on

Jeggo’s club are currently top of the Bundesliga with three wins from three matches, but were bundled out of Europe by Turkish giants Fenerbahce 3-2 on aggregate last week.

The Australian is battling with new signing Peter Zulj for a spot in midfield, along with Sandi Lovric.

“We’ve made quite a lot of changes to the squad,” Jeggo said.

“It’s a bit smaller this year. They’ve changed a few things.

“From pre-season and the first few games here, I think there’s a lot of positive signs and I think matching last season (third) should be a minimum goal for us.

“There’s no reason why we can’t put in another title challenge and last a little bit longer than year.”