CommBank Young Socceroos striker Luka Jovanovic said that he wasn't nervous for the FIFA U20 World Cup, but instead was proud and excited as the tournament draws closer.
He also touched on the special bond within the group after winning the AFC U20 Asian Cup earlier this year, and the game he is most looking forward to in the group stage.
Winning the AFC U20 Asian Cup
When you're playing in the tournament, you don't realise how big the tournament actually is. When I got back home in Adelaide, I realised what we actually just achieved.
We had a goal setting task before the Asian Cup, and we made it pretty clear that we were there to win. We only came to win the Asian Cup. To have that confidence as a team was important. Every game, we believed. There were times in the knockout games we went down in the score, but we just kept believing and regrouped as a team and kept playing.
We can't linger on that accomplishment now, because we’ve got the biggest step coming up. We need to put that behind us and play even harder now.
Being at the FIFA U20 World Cup
I'm excited, very excited. I wouldn't say nervous - I'd say, more proud to be there and just excited to kick on.
Role in the team
My goal as a player is to help the team as much as I can. Being an attacking player, that means scoring goals, providing assists and doing the off the ball work like pressing and running.
I'm hungry to score goals and hungry for more always. I'll score one goal and I'll want another one straight away. Even if I've got like, five or six goals, I want my seventh. So I’m just always hungry for more.
Special bond with the group
I've been on most of the camps since the first one we had in Portugal, more than two years ago now. And I think you've seen from the first camp, in the first game that we always had a special group, and we understood the way that the staff wanted us to play straight away. We've been building on from there.
Group stage draw
Matchday one, the first game against Italy. I’m looking forward to that one the most.
MATCH SCHEDULE | FIFA U-20 WORLD CUP CHILE 2025™
Italy v Australia
Date: Sunday, 28 September 2025 / Monday, 29 September 2025 (AUS)
Time: 5.00pm (local) / 6.00am (AEST)
Venue: Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, Valparaíso, Chile
Broadcast: Live on SBS and SBS On Demand
Argentina v Australia
Date: Wednesday, 1 October 2025 / Thursday, 2 October 2025 (AUS)
Time: 8.00pm (local) / 9.00am (AEST)
Venue: Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, Valparaíso, Chile
Broadcast: Live on SBS and SBS On Demand
Australia v Cuba
Date: Saturday, 4 October 2025 / Sunday, 5 October 2025 (AUS)
Time: 8.00pm (local) / 10.00am (AEDT)
Venue: Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos, Santiago, Chile
Broadcast: Live on SBS and SBS On Demand