Before Thursday night’s win over Lebanon, the last time John Iredale – Australia’s newest Socceroo – played a competitive match on home soil was back in high school.
In 2017, the then-Sydney FC junior had to ask permission from a teacher to duck out of class and take a phone call from Sky Blues head coach Graham Arnold.
He told Fox Sports Australia: “I was training with Arnie and the first team a couple times before that. I remember I was at school and Arnie messaged me saying: ‘can you call me quick?’
“I was in class but lucky I was really close with the teacher – I said: ‘can I pop out for a second?’”
Lucky Iredale did return the phone call, because just a few hours later he was pulling on the Sky Blues jersey and making his first-ever senior appearance in a cup match against the Darwin Rovers.
Iredale continues: “Arnie said: ‘can you get on a plane today to come to Darwin?’
“So then I flew up on game day, after school, to Darwin. And then he put me on as well! We got a good victory in that game.
“So that was my first experience playing under Arnie, and it’s just been a wild ride since then.”
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Seven years later – but still just 24 years old – Iredale came off the bench for his Socceroos debut against Lebanon, impressing in his half hour showing.
For the Sydney-born striker, it was a dream come true.
“It’s a dream I’ve had since I was a young boy,” he says. “To make the debut in Sydney in front of my family and friends made the moment more memorable and more special.”
And in a full-circle moment, it came under Graham Arnold – the same coach who handed Iredale his club debut for Sydney all those years ago.
When Arnold began his second stint in charge of the Socceroos after the 2018 World Cup, Iredale was a surprise inclusion in Arnold’s very first squad for a training camp in Turkey.
“That was a really big jump at that stage,” Iredale says. “It was something I’d always dreamt of.”
Iredale had quit Sydney FC for Dutch top-flight side Heerenveen a few months prior – having made just the single competitive appearance for the Sky Blues in that Darwin cup match – and had not even turned out for the senior side in a competitive fixture when he was called up to the national team.
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But Arnold was confident of the youngster’s ability, and Iredale had enjoyed a strong start to life in Heerenveen, with 19 goals in just 29 matches for the reserves and under 19s sides before bagging a couple of goals in pre-season matches with the senior team.
“I was a bit more immature back then,” Iredale says, adding he probably didn’t make the most of the opportunity.
The then 19-year old Socceroos bolter wouldn’t get the chance to debut in that camp, and injuries soon struck a major blow to his promising young career.
Almost immediately after the Socceroos camp, a stress fracture in his right foot ruled Iredale out for six months. He returned for a handful of games before fracturing the same bone again.
“Everything came at one time,” he says. “It put me out for a while. But that’s behind me now … I’ve been able to learn and grow from that experience.”
What did he learn?
“I hadn’t experienced a big injury like that before, but I took it as a sign that I wasn’t ready. Maybe my body wasn’t ready to make the next step right now and I needed to learn more about myself and hit the gym and develop more as a person and a player.”
Years later, the development is obvious: these days, Iredale is a fleet-footed yet strong striker who loves to run at goal and take on defenders – and with a thunderous shot at his disposal.
“I’ve grown dramatically,” he adds. “I’ve learned a lot about my body and what it takes to be a professional footballer. I’ve got a lot of minutes under my belt since that time. I’ve got the same skill set – just the next level.
“I’m still only 24 and there’s still a lot of years ahead of me.”
But as Iredale said, it would take a ‘wild ride’ to get back into the frame for Socceroos selection.
From Heerenveen, he would move to Germany, battling away at multiple clubs in the lower tiers before finding a home at Wehen Wiesbaden three years ago.
Iredale says: “I can’t look back and regret anything … I’m very happy with the path I’ve taken. Sometimes things could have gone better but that’s football and that’s part of the journey to find yourself and develop.
“Each step has helped me grow and now I’m finally feeling like I’ve earned my reputation now, especially in Germany.”
Last year Iredale earned promotion with Wiesbaden to the highly-regarded second tier of German football, where the relative minnows now sit 13th in the division.
That means playing against fellow Socceroos Jackson Irvine and Connor Metcalfe, who represent ladder-leading St Pauli.
When the two teams met earlier this season, Iredale scored a deft chip as his underdog team snatched a draw.
“I did (score),” he smiles.
“Obviously (Irvine) was upset that I scored but he gave Arnie some nice words about me which was really nice to hear about. Of course they weren’t too happy with the draw!”
Not that he’s been brave enough to bring up that goal to Irvine and Metcalfe in camp this time around – though the other Socceroos have been happy to do so on his behalf.
“I stayed away from it but the other boys definitely brought it up,” he laughs.
After years of grinding away in the lower leagues, Iredale now gets to play in front of crowds sometimes as big as 60,000+ at fallen giants Schalke. No wonder he hardly looked overawed by the occasion of his Socceroos debut last Thursday.
“Earlier this season we played in Dusseldorf in front of probably 40 or 50 thousand fans. I took a penalty in front of their main spectator side,” he says.
“In that moment, everything becomes quiet. You just do what you love and you just play football.”
After that first Socceroos camp back in 2018, Iredale wouldn’t be spotted in the national team set-up again until this year, when he was an unused squad member at January’s Asian Cup in Qatar.
Yet it’s probably fair to say most Australians wouldn’t know much about Iredale when he finally debuted on Thursday.
After the game, he told reporters: “I saw a couple comments like: ‘What is a John Iredale?’”
Well, one person knew exactly what a John Iredale is – Graham Arnold.
Iredale says: “He’s definitely been watching my journey and he was waiting for me to be ready … but being involved (in the Socceroos) back then (in 2018) and having that belief from Arnie from the get-go has helped me a lot.”
He adds: “I’m just happy that I can now finally show Australians more about who I am.”
He’s ticked off one major dream by making his debut – and he doubled down on a promise to commemorate becoming Socceroo number 640 with a tattoo – but Iredale is already dreaming of what comes next.
“A goal (Tuesday) would be nice,” he laughs, with the Socceroos facing Lebanon again in Canberra.
“This is just the beginning for me. I’m just going to be pushing and trying to become a starter and to play a big role leading up to the next World Cup.
“That’s the goal. I’ve just got to keep fit and keep scoring.”
