On Thursday, Socceroos fans got an answer to a longstanding question when a striker plying his trade in Germany's second division made his international debut.
"I saw a couple comments like, 'What is a John Iredale?'," said Australia's newest senior international, who is acutely aware his footballing journey has been somewhat off-piste.
John Iredale? Well, he is a forward who was part of Sydney FC's academy before moving to Holland and then Germany, where he now plays for second-tier SV Wehen Wiesbaden.
The 24-year-old was coached by Graham Arnold when he was in charge of the Sky Blues and was part of the manager's first Socceroos' squad back in 2018.
But Iredale's list of previous mentors is a who's who of the rising coaches in the A-League Men with current Sydney coach Ufuk Talay, Wellington Phoenix boss Giancarlo Italiano and Newcastle Jets manager Rob Stanton all playing a role in nurturing his talent.
Arnold then handed him his international debut at CommBank Stadium on Thursday in Australia's 2-0 World Cup qualifying win.
Iredale looked tidy in his near half-hour cameo as a second-half sub and said even if he had changed as a player, there was no mistaking Arnold was the same man.
"I wasn't going to come on and be passive, I wanted to show I could bring a lot to the team," Iredale said.
"I was in the youth at Sydney and trained with Arnie and played against Arsenal (in a friendly) before I moved overseas.
"I hadn't heard his voice for a few years but you can understand him from a mile away!
"I came to that first camp and then suffered a few injuries but he was aware of how I was performing."
Iredale has three goals in 16 games in the Bundesliga 2 and, as Arnold casts an eye towards the 2026 World Cup, looms as potential Socceroos regular.
Arnold opted to bench regular striker Mitchell Duke and deployed a front two of Kusini Yengi and Adam Taggart against Lebanon.
Iredale hopes beyond Tuesday's meeting with Lebanon in Canberra he will move closer to making his case to start, too.
"Arnie has rotated a little bit, not just for the No.9 but every position," he said.
"Everybody wants to play and start for the national team, so there's going to be."
