Australian national team boss Holger Osieck was impressed with the performance of young defender Matthew Spiranovic on Saturday morning.
The 22-year old Urawa Reds centre-half helped the Socceroos keep a clean sheet against Switzerland in an international friendly in St Gallen and his game was well-received by Osieck.
"He is playing regularly for the club and his confidence is growing. He had a solid game (against Switzerland)," said the German.
And the new coach wasn't the only one who was impressed with the former Nuremberg man.
Captain Lucas Neill and goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer both had kind words for Spiranovic.
"As the game grew on, he grew in confidence and he grew in voice and started to be a bit more commanding," Neill said.
"He needs to be a bit more aggressive because of the size of him ... but it is going to come.
"We have to keep giving these young guys a taste and keeping them hungry and making the job easier for me."
Schwarzer added: "I think Matty did very, very well.
"It is obviously a level up from playing in Japan and I think he coped with it very, very well and it is good for the future as well with Tommy (Oar) coming in at the end and Dario (Vidosic) as well.
"These guys are the future of the Socceroos."