Huddersfield Town 's Premier League survival has given star midfielder Aaron Mooy a boost ahead of his 2018 World Cup campaign with Australia.
Town earned back-to-back away draws against Manchester City and Chelsea in the final week of the season to clinch a second season in the top flight, condemning Swansea City , Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion to relegation to the Championship .
Most of Town's players now have the summer off to recuperate from an intense season in the top tier, but Aaron Mooy - along with Danish duo Jonas Lossl and Mathias 'Zanka' Jorgensen - is back in action in a week's time.
That's because the three Town men have been called up to their respective national sides' World Cup squads - with Australia and Denmark both drawn in Group C.
Australia kick off their campaign on Saturday, June 16 against the heavily-fancied France, but Mooy believes Town's survival will give him the lift and clarity to perform at his best in Russia.
The 27-year-old told Arab News : "Definitely it gives me a lift that Huddersfield are still in the Premier League. I didn’t want to be going into the World Cup going down.
"Staying up is an amazing achievement for the club and I can now go to the World Cup free of mind and have a real go.
"This is what I dreamed of as a kid, pretty much, playing in the top league and going to a World Cup."
He added: "The main tournament I remember was in 2002 in Japan and South Korea, the one with Ronaldinho and Brazil.
"I watched all of the games in that one. I just wanted to be a footballer when I was growing up, had lots of heroes, moved on from one guy to another, I wasn’t loyal. But they were all midfielders, [Zinedine] Zidane, [David] Beckham, those guys."
The Socceroos face France, Denmark and Peru in Group C, with the top two taking on the nations qualifying from Group D, which includes Iceland, Nigeria, Croatia and 2014 finalists Argentina, who are led by FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi.
But big names won't faze the World Cup-bound Mooy, who insists the Australia squad head to Russia with no fear, despite being seen as underdogs.
"We’ve played against the best teams, the best players so there’s no fear," he said.
"Good players, but they are human and no one likes it when you are aggressive and make it hard for them. That’s just what you have to do.
Huddersfield Town latest news
"You have to beat them, it’s the game of your life. It doesn’t matter if people write us off. I don’t think about what people say. It’s all about what we do on the pitch that matters.
"We just have to try to reach the goal. You don’t know how many times you get to go to a World Cup, so I’ll be treating it like it’s my last."
