Australian defender Milos Degenek did not enjoy his World Cup debut, which perhaps shouldn't be all that surprising given that it came in a 4-1 loss to defending champions France on Tuesday evening.
Indeed, despite a bright start that saw the Socceroos take a 1-0 lead, the final heavy margin and short turnaround to the next game meant there wasn't much to savour.
The 28-year-old, however, probably wouldn't have felt too differently had the Socceroos been able to hold on to their unlikely one-goal lead, given that he says he doesn't pause to enjoy any of the games that he's played in their immediate aftermath, no matter the sense of occasion.
There's the immediate joy of victory, of course, but once that adrenaline wears off it takes a bit of time for the emotions to return.
But for Degenek, who is hoping to start for his nation in their high-stakes fixture with Tunisia on Saturday, this self-imposed anhedonia goes a long way toward helping him maintain what he calls his "lion mentality."
"The lion mentality is you either eat or you get eaten," he said. "That's the simplest way to put it ... when we had a meeting with the boys. I said: 'There's bread on the table. Either we eat tonight -- my kids, my wife and my family -- or they eat, and my kids and wife go to sleep hungry.'
"I don't want that to happen and I use that term -- when that bread is on the table -- I want to take it, I want to keep my wife and my kids happy."
Born in Knin, the capital of an unrecognized Serbian proto-state in Croatia, Degenek's family fled to Belgrade when he was a baby during the conflict in the region, before seeking and gaining asylum in Australia when he was six years old.
Settling in Western Sydney, he subsequently earned a place in the prestigious Westfields Sports High and Australian Institute of Sport programs as a teen. His talents earned him a move to Europe and German side VfB Stuttgart, where he played alongside Germany international Joshua Kimmich
Stints across Europe -- multiple ones with Red Star -- East Asia, the Middle East and, presently, in the United States with Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew followed, as did 39 appearances for Australia's senior side after previously representing Serbia's youth.
Indeed, it's been a long and winding road for Degenek, but he says that it was during those early days in Germany, where his future outlook was far less promising than what it would eventually become and where his mentality was forged.
"I was a 16-year-old when I went to Germany and my first experience was being dropped in the middle of Stuttgart and taking an hour and a half to get to training in the middle of the freezing winter," he said.
"It's minus-8 degrees and I've got on two pairs of tracksuits and four jumpers because I didn't have money to buy a winter jacket until I got given one by my agent.
"People thinking you're going to Europe to enjoy football, you're going to be a professional and you're going to earn a lot of money. My first professional contract was $1,000 a month. I wasn't earning big bucks.
"That's where I learned the struggles and got that mentality where I thought to myself 'I'm training with another 20 guys but I want to be that one that goes on to make it.'
"I can say fortunately enough I am one the ones that made it."