The 21-year-old has just helped himself to a Europa League spot with Dutch club Utrecht which was routinely tipped to battle relegation at the beginning of the Eredivisie season.

Having seen off that particular challenge, Oar is hoping to get his teeth into the Socceroos final three qualifiers which will dictate whether the Aussies are heading to Brazil next year.

The former Brisbane Roar star has made a strong case for playing his part in the tail end of the campaign, coming off the bench in the last two qualifiers, and providing assists in both.

And after a breakthrough season with Utrecht, where he featured in team of the week and player of week honours, the creative midfielder has arrived in Saitama for the clash against the Blue Samurai in career best form.

“Reflecting on the season as a whole I’m very pleased with how it went personally, Oar said.

“I guess as well (it was) a little bit of a different role to what I normally play – more in the midfield as opposed to on the wing.

“I enjoyed it a lot and hopefully I can grow on it from coming into the qualifiers and next season as well.”

As for where he sees his role on Tuesday and the remaining qualifiers: “Obviously everybody wants to play every game and from the beginning if they can,” he said.

“I guess all I can do now is work hard in training, try and stake my claim as much as I can and whatever role the coach has in mind for me is one I’ll accept and be ready to play, regardless of what that role is.”

With a number of young Aussies enjoying cut-through in Europe, Oar believes the future is looking bright for the green and gold. Former Roar Team-mate Robbie Kruse is heading for Bayer Leverkusen, James Holland’s side FK Austria Wien has just sealed their 24th Austrian Bundesliga title and Tommy Rogic has made the move to Scottish giants Celtic.

“Robbie had a fantastic year (with Fortuna Dusseldorf),” Oar said. “The few games I watched as well he was the best player.

“Great move Tommy and of course Mitch (Langerak, Borussia Dortmund) playing in the Champions League final was huge and there’s a lot of other young players as well coming through.

“As well there are those playing in the A-League who when they get the chance in the next few years will do well too.”

Meanwhile, Utrecht teammate Michael Zullo is prepared to stake his claim for the Socceroos problematic left back position which is still in need of a long-term solution.

“There’s not really one person who kind of sticks out and would clearly be the main left back but I think whoever’s played there has done quite well,” Zullo said.

“Regardless of that fact there’s not one real candidate - I think there’s a few who can play there and play there quite well.

“And it’s just whoever the boss chooses and is most suitable for each game and I hope I can contribute in some way – we have to wait and see.”

The 24-year-old may have battled injuries and struggled for game time this season but admits he’s a much more evolved player these days.

“When I look at myself three years ago, in terms of as a person and player I think a lot’s changed and I’ve matured a lot in three years,” he said.

“Playing in Europe is tough. You can’t overstate how tough it is. And I think this season has probably been my most challenging because of the fact that I’ve been injured quite frequently but this year I’ve stayed mostly injury free apart from a couple of little things here and there.

“So I’ve been injury free and training hard and stuff like that but still haven’t been able to gain as much game time as I would have liked. It’s been pretty frustrating but like I said I’ve been part of a very successful team this year and that made it all the more difficult to get into the squad.”