Luongo in action for QPR. QPR lost 2-1, their second defeat in three games, with Luongo coming off the bench for Fer in the 71st minute. Their mid-table spot leaves them five points behind the playoff positions. After an initial buzz about his Ballon d'Or nomination -- he was among the 59 players on the shortlist leaked earlier this month -- Luongo admits that he's now knuckling down to the tough task of ensuring that QPR stay in the promotion race. "I'm trying to keep my attention away from all that [hype] and keep my head down a little bit," Luongo told ESPN FC. "The nomination was a shock at first. It was hard to explain the feeling because there's a lot going on in the season, playing for Australia and stuff like that."

Despite the Ballon d'Or accolade, it remains a steep learning curve for Luongo who had a brief spell in the Championship three years ago, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. He was dispatched to Ipswich Town in July 2012 as Andre Villas-Boas took over from Harry Redknapp as Spurs' manager. The previous September, Luongo missed a penalty in a shootout against Stoke City as Spurs were eliminated in the third round of the English League Cup. Despite that, he remained part of the first team squad until Villas-Boas' arrival. "I was pushed straight out on loan to Ipswich and it was difficult to play in the Championship and adjust to the style," he said. "But this time around I think I'm better suited and more mature, although there are games when it poses difficulties for me in certain ways because every team offers something different." Luongo's football education is also being flavoured by Australia's exotic qualifying path for Russia 2018. Already he's made trips to Dushanbe in Tajikistan and Amman in Jordan - having missed the away game in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - as the Socceroos look to book their place in a fourth consecutive World Cup.

Unquestionably, it was Luongo's achievements at January's Asian Cup that earned him the Ballon d'Or nomination, joining Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill as Australians to have been recognised. A fringe squad member before the start of the Asian Cup who'd made his international debut only 10 months earlier, Luongo scored in the opening 4-1 victory over Kuwait in Melbourne and quickly became an irreplaceable part of Ange Postecoglou's midfield puzzle, keeping veteran Mark Bresciano on the bench. "I went into the tournament not expecting to play as much as I did but grew in confidence with every game," he said. "When I scored against Kuwait, I just wanted my space to absorb the moment. It was my first international goal on home soil and it came to put us 2-1 up at half-time after we had a really shaky opening 15 minutes. "But we found our feet and that win set us up for the whole tournament."

In the final against South Korea in his hometown of Sydney, Luongo scored what seemed destined to be the winner until South Korea's Son Heung-min - now with Tottenham - equalised in the 91st minute. But James Troisi's extra-time goal secured a 2-1 victory for the home side. "It was relief at first when we won. After six games everyone was exhausted mentally and physically," he said. "When James Troisi scored, it was an amazing feeling. Normally I don't show my emotions much, but it all poured out ." After failing to see any game time at Brazil 2014, having been a surprise inclusion in the squad, Luongo says that appearing at Russia 2018 is a major career ambition, along with playing in the Premier League. But he admits that the Oct 8 defeat in Jordan - Australia's first loss in eight matches - was a knock to the confidence of Postecoglou's side.

"It was a bit disappointing and a wake-up call and it felt like we had five days of a wasted [Socceroos] camp," he said. "But we've got loads of games and time to get where we want to be." Australia, who are second in AFC Group B behind Jordan, will play Kyrgyzstan in Canberra on November 12 before travelling to Dhaka to face Bangladesh on November 17 in their next qualifiers. In the meantime, Luongo will continue to fight for a starting berth at QPR - and deal with increasing interest from his mother's homeland of Indonesia, which represents a large chunk of his 48,000 followers on Twitter. As a student in the 1980s, his mother Ira moved from Jakarta to Sydney where she met Luongo's Italian father, and there was earlier speculation that Luongo might play for Indonesia. "People tweet to me in Indonesian but I don't understand because I don't speak it," he said. "My Mum went back to Indonesia with my uncle recently. People wanted to meet her and there was news in the paper because of what I was doing. I've never been there but I'd love to go one day."