EXCLUSIVE: In-form Australian Dario Vidosic has revealed his tale from frustration to fame as he fires FC Nürnberg back into the German Bundesliga and possibly himself into the 2010 World Cup. The 22-year-old Australian forward has scored two crucial goals for Nürnberg this month, as well as an important assist a week ago against Osnabrück, as the club edge closer to promotion to the Bundesliga.
Now the young Aussie's great form has attracted the attention of Socceroos boss Pim Verbeek, who sent his assistant Henk Duut to Nürnberg to witness Vidosic's recent game against Osnabrück.
And the former Queensland Roar man, who signed with the Bavarian club in March 2007, is relishing the opportunity to play regular football having endured a frustrating time in Germany following a lingering knee problem which he believes prevented Nürnberg from seeing his best.
On the back of his recent good performances, Vidosic told FourFourTwo: "It's just good to get the chance and get the start and to score the goals, as well to be in the end the winning goals, I couldn't ask for better.
"The whole first season I really didn't get that chance to show what I could do and what I could give to the club."
After signing with Nürnberg in early 2007, Vidosic struggled to win opportunities in the first-team making just four brief appearances as the Bavarians were relegated from the Bundesliga in the 2007/2008 season.
The following season started off in a similar fashion with the Australian battling for game time until his recent purple patch which began with the winner at eventual champions SC Freiburg in March.
Vidosic admitted though, he had endured a frustrating time in Germany before his fortunes turned: "I had a knee problem that was just ongoing and ongoing and I wasn't really sure what it was.
"I could train on it but I just had pain which was going through it. And that affected me a lot and basically my whole game relies on speed and being agile and taking players on and when I had that pain in my leg I felt as though I could never really take off good on my left and I could never really get those first few steps away from defenders.
"So that affected my confidence and I wasn't really happy with my training. And there were days when I felt as though I didn't even want to train because of my knee. I didn't feel good and I was getting it looked at and no one really knew what the problem was.
"Everything looked fine, scans were fine and in the end we found out it was just inflammation in my knee and everytime I put weight onto it, my leg would just kind of give way and I'd kind of almost collapse.
"So I took nearly two months off from that and now everything feels better and I'm getting my confidence back and training good and everyone's really happy. The coach is telling me everyday I'm getting better and better in training and he's really happy, so hopefully we can push on."
With Nürnberg likely to face a promotion playoff against the third-bottom Bundesliga club, there is still work to be done for Vidosic and his teammates.
"We've got three more games and if I get a part to play in all those games it would be perfect. Then have a bit of a break and then hopefully get a call-up to the Socceroos and continue on from there," Vidosic said.
And it seems the youngster is in the frame for Socceroos selection considering his own good form along with Duut's visit to Nürnberg and the fact Australia are likely to enjoy a few dead rubbers to experiment with players towards the end of World Cup qualifying.
Vidosic added: "Pim was very impressed with me and he's always asking how I'm going and it's all very good.
"If I get that chance to go along with the Socceroos it would just be the perfect end to a very good season which hopefully we can top it off with going to the Bundesliga as well."
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