As a 21-year-old who had enjoyed a breakout A-League season with Melbourne Victory, the winger missed out on selection for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Then, in 2014 having broken into the national team set up and establishing himself as a key cog in the attack, a cruciate ligament injury meant he missed the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Now, in 2018, the 29-year-old feels like it’s his time to shine and that the new system implemented by head coach Bert van Marwijk suits his game style perfectly.
“I’ve had to overcome a lot of mental barriers through my rehab with a lot of serious injuries,” said Kruse, who has 63 caps to his name.
“I’m really close now so it’s a little bit surreal but a lot of hard work has been put in and I’m just really excited to get there and hopefully contribute to the team.”
The VfL Bochum man added: “The game plan suits me really well, the majority of my game is based upon playing on the counter attack, trying to stay compact and go forward really quickly.
“It worked quite well against Czech (Republic), we had three really fast players up front with Tommy Rogic in the No 10 (position). When those boys are making forward runs it makes it really hard to defend."
Australia produced a phenomenal performance in the friendly against Czech Republic as they romped to a 4-0 win.
“For the majority of my career in Europe, I’ve predominantly played in teams where we’ve played on the counter attack as well. You never know, you can prepare the best you can and give yourself the best opportunity to succeed but still don’t.
“I’ve done that and hopefully if I can keep working hard I can help the team and hopefully put in some good individual performances as well.”
The focus in training has also shifted as the FIFA World Cup approaches.
Just five days of training remain before the Socceroos’ final preparation friendly against Hungary, which means work on the training park has become more geared towards nailing down the game play for the opening match against France.
With the bulk of training now closed off to media, van Marwijk has ramped up the tactical information delivered to his 23 players in a bid to have everyone prepared for the task ahead.
“We’ve still been doing a lot of tactical work, maybe not as visible for the cameras to see but the positions we’ve been working on, it’s all tactical the way he wants us to press, the way he wants us to close spaces,” explained Kruse.
“Getting closer to the first game there will be more closed training sessions where we’re working on starting 11 and stuff like that, really ramping home what he wants.
“Then it will start to hit home you’re getting close to the opening game. We’ve still got this week where it will be a bit of a slog try and get through the next game against Hungary and then hopefully it will be a bit easier heading into the first game.”
Source: www.socceroos.com.au
