Here's a thought: Graham Arnold first played for the Socceroos in 1985. He's coaching the team now in 2022.
That's a 37-year span with the national team, from go to woe, a record unsurpassed in the Socceroos' 100-year history.
And that record includes 22 years as a player and coach, a significant portion of the 59-year-old's life.
The stat takes him by surprise, simply because he has never thought about his tenure in those terms.
"It's been 37 years, as you said, and 37 out of 100 is not bad," he says.
"I've always had some great memories and that's what the Socceroos provide you in life."
Socceroos and life — the two words are almost interchangeable in Arnold's vocabulary, as if one is not complete without the other.
The Socceroos, he says, mean everything to him.
"Especially when you put that badge on your heart. You know, it's playing for your country," he says.
"I don't think there's anything better you could ever do in any sport in life."
Arnold has gained enormous perspective in his time with the Socceroos, who he is now coaching for the second time after a period as a caretaker from 2006 to 2007.
The first time he says he was acting — pretending to be Guus Hiddink. It didn't work.
This incarnation has had its challenges, but there have also been successes, including a record 11-straight wins in the World Cup qualifiers.
His passion for the Socceroos and the team's culture remains unquenched.
"Family, mateship, brotherhood," he says of that culture.
"I'm the father, they're my kids and that's the type of culture that we have.
"We did a team identity when I first started, and it was the responsibility of the players to come up with a team identity, which I think that covers the nation, and it's 'many journeys, one jersey'.
"So many of the players have been through different lives and hard ways and we've all gelled together as one, and that's the most important thing."
There are the flag-bearers for the Socceroos' culture, players such as captain Mat Ryan, and midfielder Jackson Irivne — who were both instrumental in organising the Socceroos video calling for more human rights reforms in Qatar.
But Arnold also singles out the two former South Sudanese refugees in the squad, Awer Mabil and Thomas Deng.
"The refugees that come to Australia, they feel more Australian than Australians, if you know what I mean," Arnold says.
"They really have a great gratitude to the sport but also to the country for giving them another life and their passion to play for the country is incredible.
"And it's the same as Martin Boyle [the Scottish-born player who only recently set foot in Australia]. He's the energy of the group but he just feels so privileged to play for the Socceroos."
From Australia to overseas and back again
Arnold's journey began when he was still playing in the old NSL for Sydney United.
It continued when he moved to Europe with the others in that first wave of Aussies abroad: Craig Johnson, Robbie Slater, David Mitchell and Eddie Krncevic.
His trip abroad took him to the Netherlands and Belgium before a final stint in Japan, all the while playing for the Socceroos, earning 56 caps and scoring 19 goals.
His national career lasted until the heartbreak of the 1997 MCG World Cup qualifier against Iran, the famous 2-2 draw that knocked Australia out on the away-goal rule.
When he returned to Australia to end his career, he took up a position as a player-coach with the Northern Spirit and, by his own admission, had no idea what he was doing.
"I did no planning or preparation off the field for anything," he says.
"I wasn't a coach — I was a player leading by example."
But it was enough for higher honours.
In 2000, he was appointed as the Socceroos assistant, first to Frank Farina and then to Guus Hiddink.
"I have to say, under Guus, what I learned in that 12 months, it would have taken me 10 years to learn on my own," Arnold says.
That 12 months included the breakthrough World Cup appearance in 2006 — the Socceroos' first for 32 years — off the back of the famous penalty shoot-out against Uruguay in Sydney.
It was the very peak of Australia's so-called Golden Generation, when players such as Harry Kewell, Marco Bresciano, Vince Grella, Craig Moore, Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill and Mark Viduka were plying their trade in the top leagues of Europe.
Arnold pays tribute to his predecessors for getting the most out of a gifted group of young players who grew up and trained together at the Australian Institute of Sport, and then continued via the mean streets of European football.
"Eddie Thompson [Socceroos coach from 1990-96] had a method to his madness for these younger ones, that next generation, and I feel that Frankie [Farina] really bought them on as well," Arnold says.
"You know, those players, when we lost to Uruguay in 2001, they were probably just a couple of years too young. They didn't have that more-mature experience about them. But, by the time Guus took over, they were really ready."
It was as good as it got for Australian soccer, with the team progressing to the knockout stage only to lose in heartbreaking fashion to eventual champions Italy, thanks to a penalty that's still up for debate in Australian football circles.
Anyone who witnessed Arnold with "Aussie Guus" Hiddink during the recent friendly against New Zealand in Brisbane would have seen the reverence Arnold holds his former boss in, but also the mutual fondness the two share.
"I just had this crazy thought one night to bring back a guy that's mentored me and helped me so much in my life and my career," Arnold said at the time.
However, Arnold's time with Hiddink in 2006 proved to be a blessing and a curse.
When Hiddink's short tenure was up, Arnold was given the head coaching role on an interim basis to take the team to the 2007 Asian Cup.
The Socceroos had just come off the World Cup and another season of European football.
By the time the squad turned up for the Asian Cup, the players were tired, injured and wanting a holiday, not another tournament.
The Socceroos spluttered their way into the quarterfinals, where they were beaten by Japan in a penalty shootout.
And, by his own admission, Arnold was faking it.
"The greatest lesson I've probably had in coaching was the failure of 2007," he says.
"I tried to be an actor, and be Guus Hiddink, because that's how I saw what he achieved with those boys. And that wasn't Graham Arnold. That wasn't the person that I am."
He took the Olyroos to the 2008 Olympics and was appointed as national assistant once again — this time to Pim Verbeek — who took the Socceroos to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Later that year, Arnold was appointed as head coach of the Central Coast Mariners in the A-League, where his real journey could begin.
"If I could have my life back and change, I would do what I did from 2010 to today first. I did my career completely back to front," he says.
But, at least now, back in club-land, he knew what he was and what he wasn't.
"It was more about being myself before being a coach. Stop being the actor and pretending to be someone you're not," he says.
"Do it your way and be the person that you are. And I did it that way. And I feel that, you know, honesty is the key."
That may be so, but it's not always an easy thing to drop the mask and be yourself. It takes courage and self-belief, but Arnold says it was the essential lesson in his journey.
"You know, if you're not speaking from the heart, and you're speaking from the brain. The players can see that it's not real and it's not coming from the passion. Then they pick up on it straightaway," he says.
His stint with the Mariners earned him an A-league premiership and championship, with the team finishing in the top two in each of the three years he coached the side.
In 2014, he was appointed coach of the A-League's glamour side, Sydney FC, where he won back-to-back premierships and the grand final in the 2016-17 season.
At that point, he believed he had ironed out the weaknesses in his coaching from his earlier stints with the Socceroos.
Tactics, he says, were always his strength, but his management needed work.
"It was about getting the best out of people," he says.
"It's about planning and preparing beforehand that I was weak at.
"And I had to get all that together to be a successful coach because coaching, these days, it's not just about football — there's so many things that you've got to be good at and everyone expects you to be an expert at all those major points and it's very difficult."
In 2018, he was reappointed as Socceroos coach, replacing Bert van Marwijk, who had taken the team to that year's World Cup.
Since then, he has coached the team in 33 games, winning 23, drawing four and losing just six. His winning record in his current tenure of 69.7 per cent makes him the most successful Socceroos coach, excepting the odd caretaker, since the team began playing on the world stage.
He also coached the Olyroos to last year's Tokyo Olympics, where the team defeated Argentina, but then lost to Spain and Egypt.
"I'd say a lot of people here think I've lost every second game," Arnold says.
"But there's been a lot of things that have made me happy through this campaign.
"And I think that my record there stands for itself, but also qualifying those Olympic boys for the first time in 12 years, helping the next generation come through.
"And people now forget about the 11 wins straight, which is a world record for World Cup qualifiers.
"So, even though we went through a tough time and through a pandemic, we've achieved some great things."
The great things include qualification for Qatar, thanks to Andrew Redmayne's heroics in that memorable match against Peru in Qatar.
Those tough times came to a head when Arnold was fined $25,000 by Football Australia after he broke COVID-19 protocols in the lead-up to the Socceroos qualifier against Japan in Sydney earlier this year.
He claims he had recorded a false positive test, but says he never had any differences with his bosses at FA.
"It was what they wanted to do by fining me and, and they were disappointed in my actions," he says.
So were the Australian public off the back of a subsequent 2-0 loss to Japan, which threatened to end Australia's qualification run and resulted in some calling for Arnold's sacking.
But Arnold says he remained resolute.
"Because I love the job, and I knew the journey that we were on," he says.
"People forget that I didn't coach the team before Japan. I was doing it from a computer in my room.
"You know the game before that — we played Vietnam down in Melbourne — was the first time I'd experienced ever coaching the team on the computer and doing meetings from a computer, because I had COVID, and I was in lockdown.
"But look, of course, people have their own opinions. I'm very fortunate I don't do social media. I don't look at all that stuff.
"It hurts my family more than it does me but, at the same time, I knew that we had this connection with a group of players that we've got and staff that made a lot of sacrifices through that campaign that we would get it right in the end.
"But now, for me, it's a line drawn in the sand and it's all about Qatar."
Everything to gain on the world stage
Arnold has a rare week with his squad leading up to the Socceroos first World Cup game against France, the defending champions and number four ranked team, on November 22.
In that week, he has a chance to implement a game style, rather than relying on the players to do their thing — a method Arnold has used in the past, simply because of a lack of preparation time.
So what's the plan to take on one of the world's best teams and arguably best player in forward, Kylian Mbappé?
"First of all, is the old DNA fighting mentality that Australia is well known for, and proud of, and we don't take a backward step. We only look forward," Arnold says.
"Yes, France are a good side, and yes, they've got great players, but also we need to take that away from them. You know, we're not going to sit back and just let them control the game.
"And that's getting in their face and suffocating them when they've got the ball and having high energy.
"There's 11 blue shirts out there, not France, and if we can win eight individual battles, then we've got a great chance of winning the game."
Grit and determination is all well and good, but whether that can withstand 90 minutes against the attacking flair of a world-class team remains to be seen.
This Socceroos squad of 26 (set to be named on the November 8) is likely to feature just a couple of players who are playing for clubs in the top European leagues — Ajdin Hrustic in Italy, Awer Mabil in Spain, and possibly Denis Genreau, who plays for Toulouse in France.
The bulk of the team are plying their trades in lesser competitions around the world.
Not many would give Australia a chance of even securing a draw against France, but tournament football is a strange beast. Perhaps the Socceroos, who are ranked 38th in the world, could draw against Denmark (10) and jag a win against Tunisia (30) to sneak into the last 16.
But Arnold says he's not thinking that way.
"If you're sending messages to the players that we just got to go out there to survive, to get a draw, you're putting a negative thought in their brain," Arnold says.
"We're one of 32 nations.
"Everyone's starting on zero points and we're going there with a goal and that goal, obviously, to start off, is the last 16.
"Whenever you go out on the pitch, it's about how we win the game."
There's the results on the field, but also perceptions.
Asked what he wants the Australian public to know about his goals, he replies: "I want the public to know that we are going to give everything we've got, every last drop," he says.
"As long as I can get the best out of every player and we're not looking back with any regrets, that's the most important thing."
Perhaps because of what he's been through during this qualifying period, negotiating COVID-19 and not being able to spend much quality time with his squad, Arnold appears to be particularly relaxed given the hectic schedule that lies ahead.
He almost comes across as a manager with nothing to lose.
"I don't like to use the word lose — [we have] everything to gain," he says.
"Because it's a wonderful opportunity for all the players. How many players get together to play at a World Cup for Australia?
"There's only ever been 622 players in 100 years to play for the Socceroos, but then to go to a World Cup, this is a great opportunity for the rest of their life, wonderful memories."
Arnold’s contract concludes at the end of this World Cup, no matter the result.
He has said he is open to another contract with the Socceroos, or possibly a gig with a club side but, for now, the focus is enjoying his last few weeks in the job.
"I'm gonna have great fun because, you know, we've achieved already what people's expectations were, or were not, in qualifying," he says.
"Now it's time to really go there and relax, but give everything you've got. And we're just there to make the Australian public happy."
