Rene Meulensteen spent six years as first-team coach at Manchester United working alongside Sir Alex Ferguson and helping mould Cristiano Ronaldo into the remarkable goalscorer he is today.
The Dutchman has now been an assistant coach with Socceroos for three years and played a big role in Graham Arnold's tenure as manager.
So how did Meulensteen go from the Red Devils to the green and gold?
Arnold, unsurprisingly, played large role in the 57-year-old's decision to link up with Australia's national team in 2018 as Meulensteen finally got to test himself in the international arena.
"I’d done pretty much everything at club level and aside from time with the Qatar Football Association at a younger age group, I always wanted to do something with a national team. Maybe go to the Olympics or go to a big tournament like the World Cup," Meulensteen said on the Football From A to Z podcast.
"I only once had another opportunity, to join the Dutch national association when Danny Blind came in but he eventually picked Dick Advocaat instead of me.
There's always one team member who lives for a training-ground nutmeg 🤣
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Turns out @Socceroos Assistant Coach René Meulensteen is no different!#AllForTheSocceroos pic.twitter.com/foQkdtiVaJ
"I obviously got to know Graham because he came to Manchester United for his pro licence and we had a connection, hit it off. I basically showed him all the insides out, how we operated at Man Utd and we stayed in touch.
"He came over a few times as well and he reached out and said, ‘It’s just a shot in the dark but I’m going to do the national team job after the World Cup 2018, would you like to do it with me? What do you think?’
"I said it would be great, straight away, it’s been an ambition for me and I think Australia is that exciting country that should always be there or there about to qualify for a World Cup.
"Very quickly I discussed that we needed to take the Olympic team as well because what I knew from Australia I said, ‘We need to add a few things. Not change. But add.'
"After the World Cup if you ask every pundit they would speak with respect about Australia. They say we’re very fit, well organised, hard to beat but nobody will speak about the attacking threat, unpredictability, the chances we create, goals we scored.
"These are the layers we need to add on top. We can only do that if we change our way of playing, if we bring in different players and make sure we have good players coming through."
Meulensteen was one of the key people behind Ronaldo's incredible 2007-08 season with Manchester United when he scored 42 times across all competitions.
The Dutch coach made the Portugal star set higher targets and worked closely with him to ensure his confidence in front of goal was sky high.
This is something he has since done with Australian striker Jamie Maclaren, who has coincidentally scored 54 goals across his past two seasons with Melbourne City.
"When Jamie Maclaren came to us in Dubai he was very low on confidence and I basically brought him back," Meulensteen said.
"I said ‘What I’m going to do with you for the next couple days is exactly what I did with Ronaldo’.
"And then it was just boom...he was scoring goals after goals. Sometimes you just need to hit the reset button. It’s all about confidence with any player."
The Socceroos will be hoping to bounce back from a recent 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia in World Cup qualifying when they face China on Wednesday morning (AEDT).