Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak remembers getting laughed at.

And he also remembers not being able to get an A-League contract.

"I have had my knock-backs," Jedinak says as he prepares to lead Australia's campaign at the World Cup in Brazil.

As a boy in Sydney, people asked Jedinak what he wanted to be when he grew up.

He knew the answer: a professional footballer. But he was reluctant to say it.

"In this country, you would say you wanted to be a professional footballer and people would laugh at you," Jedinak says.

"So whenever I'd get asked 'what do up want to be when you grow up?', I would want to say professional sports person. But I knew people wouldn't take me seriously.

"But I knew I wanted to do this from a very young age."

Jedinak's love for soccer started when watching his older brother play.

"I remember one time watching those older boys, they needed someone to play and I got chucked in," he says.

"I didn't have any gear or anything. I used cardboard as shin pads."

So began an unbridled passion for the game for a self-described "football fanatic". But the game hasn't always loved him back.

As a teen, Jedinak left Sydney United in state league ranks for Croatian club Varadin. He struggled, making just one competitive appearance in 2003-04.

"When I went to Croatia as a youngster I came back after a year and half," he says.

"It just didn't work out."

On return to Australia, the then 21-year-old, considered a hard-worker but not elite talent, was snubbed by A-League clubs.

So he played for Sydney United and was part of their 2006 NSW Premier League title win.

"I couldn't get an A-League contract immediately, for whatever reason. So I just had to bide my time," he says.

"It was tough. But you can't force these things. Sometimes it's just about timing."

Central Coast Mariners came calling in 2006 and he stayed with the A-Leaguers until Christmas Day 2008, when he signed a contract with Turkish outfit Genlerbirligi.

He stayed in Turkey until June 2011 when he sought another club in another country - a month later, he signed with Crystal Palace in England.

Jedinak admits when he went to England, he never dared to imagine that, three years on, he would be captain of Palace and Australia.

"Did I have goals and ambitions back then? Absolutely," he says.

"Was one of them playing at the highest level I could? Yes.

"Was one of them playing for my national team? Of course.

"But to do it and to do it the way I did is very special and something I don't take lightly because it's something I know I have had to work really hard for."

Jedinak inspiration now primarily comes from his family.

"The fire in my belly comes from a lot of things. But first and foremost it comes from my family - my two kids, my wife, my parents," he says.

"It's all to make them happy. It's all to make them proud."

Jedinak has two boys, aged two and nine months.

"My eldest now knows what I do for work. He calls it 'kicky ball'," he says.

"What does daddy do for work? 'Kicky ball and fall on the ground' - that's what he says."

Now he's national captain, Jedinak acknowledges the expectation on him.

"But I take it all in my stride, I don't let it faze me," he says.

"I have been given a responsibility at club level to be a captain for a reason.

"It's within your own makeup as a person and it's something I try to replicate here with Australia.

"I know there could be added pressure. Fair enough, so be it.

"It's always about respect when you're put into a position like that.

"And I think in whatever groups I have been in I have always been able to gain that respect. But that respect has to be earned."