When Denis Genreau was in high school, he and his class went on a field trip to Uluru.
They were there to learn about the history of Australia: the struggles and resilience of First Nations people, the stories and songs passed down through generations of Dreaming, and the spiritual meaning of the land on which they walked.
One afternoon, during a lunch break, Genreau's best friend brought out a football.
With the rusty red rock behind them, the two teenagers started a game of "keepy uppie" in the warm sand.
They were soon surrounded by more than a dozen tourists — people from all over the world, brought to this one place to learn about the past, present, and future of Australia — who, after watching from afar, eventually asked to join in.
"There were people from everywhere," Genreau told the ABC.
"People from India, from China, from all over Europe. No-one could speak the same language, but we somehow managed to get a 10 vs 10 game on a small field that we'd made in the middle of Australia.
"We couldn't speak to each other, but we were all just playing. That's when I realised the power of football and what it can do."
This is a memory that Genreau has carried with him — both literally and figuratively — as his football career has taken flight.
He keeps a framed photo of Uluru with him wherever he goes: a reminder of what the Australian game, at its heart, really means.
There are a lot of memories like that. He remembers being six or seven years old and forcing his father, Marc, to cycle the two of them to a local Melbourne park in the pouring rain to kick a football around.
He remembers waking up in the early hours to watch El Clasicos and Champions League games together, admiring the beautiful football of Barcelona during the Xavi, Iniesta and Messi era.
He remembers the YouTube clips his dad would show him of football in the 1990s, staring with wonder at players like Zinedine Zidane — who Marc watched lead France to World Cup glory in his native Paris in 1998 (Denis, coincidentally, was born there nine months later).
Marc met Sophie, Denis's mother, in Cannes, when the pair were university students. They spent their honeymoon in Australia and loved it so much that they moved here permanently.
Despite their new surroundings, the Genreaus made sure to keep their own history, culture and language alive, to pass down their own stories and songs to the next generation.
"We had a big French influence at home," Denis said.
"We spoke French at the dinner table. We've got family back in France as well, so we'd often give the grandparents a call in French, or I'd be writing letters in French.
"We played a lot of sports. Mum played basketball, [my] sister did netball. My dad is also a massive rugby fan and he followed the Wallabies even when he was living in France.
"But he really loved football, not specifically a team, just attractive, beautiful football. So I think he really passed that down to me. Even now, we have long conversations about football, not tactics or anything, just nice actions or moments or feelings in the game, because we love it so much.
"So that's where it all started."
Now 23, Genreau's football career has taken him right back to where he started.
After breaking through in the A-League Men with Melbourne City and Macarthur FC, he secured a move to French club Toulouse FC last year.
He now lives a train ride away from the rest of his family in the country's south and is rubbing shoulders with some of the world's best, including the very same players he used to watch on TV as a kid.
It's all happened a lot faster than what Genreau expected.
He never got selected for state or youth national teams when he was a teenager, but it didn't bother him.
Football was still fun; it was still kicking a ball around in the red sand.
Then, after being invited to a National Training Centre tournament in 2015, he caught the eye of a handful of scouts, including representatives from Melbourne's A-League Men teams.
When he signed his first contract with City, as a 16-year-old, that was when "it started to feel real, that this is what I want to do. This is what I want to make a living out of."
The next three years were difficult, though. His first season as a professional was solid, but a revolving door of coaches and loan moves affected his confidence, as well as his football.
He recalls one season when he was 18 where he played a total of just 15 minutes, even though he'd just been called into his first Socceroos camp.
"It was really frustrating," he said.
"The coach basically said to me at the start of the season, 'you're not going to play any games this year.' I wasn't allowed to leave, either, on loan or going to another club. I was basically stuck there, knowing I'm not going to play.
"So I was like, 'well, I know I'm here, I'm just going to work on myself and develop things that I want to do.' You learn a lot of resilience in those tough times. It's frustrating [when] it doesn't really matter what you do at training. It's not all about your performance and how good you are. There are some things that are totally out of your control. That was a harsh reality check.
"There's a certain hierarchy in football, which you have to respect as well: it's very much in the elite space because there's a lot of experienced players, and that's the hierarchy you have to try [to] destabilise.
"It can take a lot of time and hard work, and sometimes it doesn't happen. But that's part of football: it's not always a straight line up. It's ups and downs. As long as you keep going, hopefully that line keeps going up."
The challenges followed him to France, too. Five minutes into his starting debut with Toulouse, Genreau had his front teeth caved in by the shoulder of a team-mate, resulting in an epic post-match photo that immediately endeared him to supporters.
He could have lost all of those teeth were it not for some emergency dentistry the next day, a week-long diet of apple purée, and a mouthguard he had to wear for the rest of the season.
The rollercoaster last few years for Genreau in club-land has been reflected at the national team level, too.
After impressing in his senior debut last June, he was part of Australia's Under-23s side who famously defeated Argentina at the Tokyo Olympics before falling to Spain and Egypt.
He's been a regular in Socceroos camps ever since, but still hasn't played as much of a role on the field as he would like to.
However, he's been in this place before, so he knows exactly what he needs to do from here.
"The last four years have gone up and down, up and down," he said. "I've lived in four different cities in the last four years, so it's really nice to be in the same city now for the second year in a row, feeling settled.
"I've had good moments and bad moments. I see what's happened to me in the last four years. It's kind of scary to think what it's going to be like in the next four years.
"Obviously, you want to go to the next World Cup, but you could be anywhere: you might not even be playing football anymore. Things can change so quickly.
"So, with this World Cup coming up, you think: 'This is an opportunity now'.
"You have to live in the moment, in the present. That's what I've learned most, I think, just to be present and enjoy the good moments.
"There have been a lot more bad moments than good ones in the last four years, but I've learned to appreciate the good ones when they happen. It makes it easier to get through the bad ones."
He's particularly motivated to be selected in Graham Arnold's final 26-player Qatar squad for the possibility of facing France — the nation of his birth — in the opening group game on November 23.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play the country where you're born but where your attachment, where your real home, is somewhere else," he said.
"I'd love to get one up on them. I've been copping a lot of slack at the club about playing France: Everyone is always talking about how France has great players, they're the favourites to win the whole thing, all that.
"But if we can beat France, and I come back to Toulouse after it, that'll be an amazing feeling. I kind of feel like I've got something to prove.
"Everyone here always says, 'no one watches the Australian league' or that we don't have a reputation or whatever, so it'd be so good to prove them wrong.
"We've shown that over and over again. Beating Argentina [at the Tokyo Olympics] was another example. Even last time we played France, it wasn't easy for them. Whenever we've got our backs up against the wall, that's when we perform better."
That collision of past and future is an ongoing theme in the current Socceroos team.
Head coach Graham Arnold is a big reason for that, recognising the talent emerging through Australian pathways and accelerating them for both club and country, all while instilling in them the mythology and history of the team he himself represented as a player decades ago.
Genreau felt the past and future colliding when he sat on the bench watching the Socceroos' dramatic penalty shootout win against Peru that qualified them for Qatar.
He likened it to the 2005 World Cup qualifier where Australia defeated Uruguay: A moment where it felt like everybody was part of it, not just the 11 players in green-and-gold on the pitch.
"If you'd seen everything we went through — airports during COVID, playing away from home, being in Kuwait stuck in a hotel for three weeks — all the sacrifices that fans back home didn't see, all of that came into this one moment and made it all feel worth it," he said.
Arnold was there for both. For younger players such as Genreau, who earned their caps under Arnold, he embodies everything about the Socceroos: He is the connection from the past to the future, the translator of the spirit and the struggle, the ultimate Socceroos storyteller.
Now, those stories have been passed down to Genreau. And, just like the pick-up game he played in the red sands of Uluru — a modern moment in an ancient place — he is ready to carry Australian football into its next era.
"Everyone has their own journey and everyone has their own story — where you come from, how you made it to Australia, growing up there — and all comes together under this one jersey," he said.
"Arnie is a massive advocate for the younger generation coming through, and he's shown it.
"He didn't have to take our Olympic team, but he chose to. He's always pushing for us to play, always saying good things. He's gone out of his way for us [and] that's going to benefit the game so much in the years to come.
"He defines the Socceroos, the way that he loves the team so much. He's obviously had tough moments, but great moments as well. He's the definition of resilience: with all the critics, he's always pushed through and, in the end, got what he deserved. We all got what we deserved.
"You take that inspiration from the past, what other generations have done, and also the future with what the Olyroos did at the Olympics.
"That's the story of the Socceroos, right there. Having your backs up against the wall and always fighting to make things right. It's up to us to carry that on."
This story is part of ABC Sport's "Socceroos In The Spotlight" series in the build-up to the 2022 men's World Cup. You can read part one on Mitch Duke here, part two on Ajdin Hrustic here, part three on Aziz Behich here, part four on Miloš Degenek here, and part five on Jackson Irvine here.
