COREY Gameiro kept having to remind himself it “wasn’t a World Cup”, but after almost 22 months without a game, a second-half cameo in a weekend trial felt like the most important 20 minutes of his career.

On the comeback trail after a third knee reconstruction, Gameiro finally made his Roar debut in Brisbane’s 2-0 pre-season win over Sydney FC on Saturday.

He hadn’t played since injuring his knee in his former club Melbourne City’s 5-1 win over Perth Glory on November 27, 2015.

That injury led to his second ACL tear and subsequent reconstruction in the space of 12 months.

Worse was to follow when he tore the ACL in his other knee at City’s Townsville training camp in September last year.

“I did everything properly, I don’t take shortcuts with things, so trying to understand why this had happened again to me was hard,” Gameiro said.

media_camera Corey Gameiro is back after 22 months away from football. Picture: George Salpigtidis

“People don’t really understand the depth of how hard it is mentally and emotionally.”

But Gameiro, still only 24, refused to give up. He had invested too much time in his career for it to come to a premature end.

All he needed was someone to believe in him and that man was Roar coach John Aloisi, who in July offered Gameiro a one-year deal.

“He was the one who put his hand out to me when I needed it. I really am so thankful and I won’t ever let him down because he didn’t let me down in my time of need,” the former Australian under-23 international striker said.

“There’ll probably never really be a way to be able to truly repay him.”

Gameiro was on an emotional rollercoaster after finding out last week that he would get some game time against Sydney.

“I had to keep telling myself to relax and that I was only playing 20 minutes in a friendly and that it wasn’t a World Cup,” he said.

“But I was extremely excited and really proud that I could be back out there.”

Watching proudly on the sidelines at Sydney’s Macquarie University training ground were Gameiro’s Wollongong-based parents Jenny and Tony.

“They were more scared and nervous than I was,” said Gameiro, who was grateful the ongoing support of his family, his partner Catey, fans, his teammates and the rest of the A-League fraternity.

“That includes players that I don’t even know ringing me. It’s a real testament to the A-League’s culture.”