Huddersfield Daily Examiner

My tonic for

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from an intense season in the top tier, but Mooy - along with Danish duo Jonas Lossl and Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen - is back in action.

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 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.

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