"My football abilities grew, being in a great league.

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Jason Davidson had to toughen up real quick. First, there were the childhood taunts: he only got a game because he's the son of a Socceroos great. Then, he was shipped off to Japan as a 14-year-old for an education, at school and in soccer. Next came Portugal, where the trappings of a professional career almost did just that - trapped him. Now, just 21-years-old, he's expected to mark some of the most dangerous strikers on the planet. But Davidson, Australia's left-back at the World Cup in Brazil, wouldn't have it any other way. "I'm lucky I went through things at a young age and bounced back and had the resilience to push forward," he says. Davidson's father Alan was named in the Socceroos' all-time best XI. But he never pushed his son into soccer, it was more the doing adidas nitrocharge 3.0 of his mum. "She obviously could see that it's a good career," he says. "But my father looked at it as a hard career. He knew the sacrifices that you had to make." His dad played 79 times for the Socceroos between 1980 and 1991 but never made it to the World Cup finals as Australia Adidas Predator LZ TRX AG failed to qualify. "We always have a joke in the family, that is something that I have over my father," Davidson says. "But it's not a competition. He's a very proud father." As a kid, Davidson felt pressure - but never from his dad. "A lot of other people were always comparing myself to my father," he says. "At junior football there was a lot of jealousy, people saying 'you have only made the team because of who your father is'. "So at a young age I learnt to deal with that. "I was fortunate enough that I went overseas at a young age, so I kind of left that behind and made a career for myself." Davidson, who has a Japanese grandmother, spent three years from 2005 at Seiritsu Gakuen in Tokyo, a private high school with a renowned soccer program. "As a 14-year-old coming from Australian culture, not speaking the language and getting thrown into the deep end, it was quite hard," he says. "They had different mentalities over there with the rules and a different way of life. "It took me a while to get used to that and adapt to their culture. But once I did that, my football blossomed. "They are very disciplined and they work hard. That is the biggest thing I learnt over there - to work hard. You can always push yourself to new limits." From Japan, Davidson signed his first professional contract with Portuguese club Pacos de Ferreira, before being loaned next season to Sporting da Covilha. "It was another different experience because I started to get a little bit more distractions outside of football," he Adidas Nitrocharge 1.0 TRX TF says. "I learnt a lesson about what comes with football. There's the glamorous side, but that can also bring you down quickly. "My football abilities grew, being in a great league. But I also learnt the bad side to football that can catch players and bring players down." From Portugal, Davidson went to Heracles in the Netherlands, where he has played the past three seasons. The multilingual Davidson, who speaks Portuguese, Japanese and his native English, isn't intimidated by the Socceroos' daunting task against Chile, the Netherlands and Spain in this World Cup. "We have to concentrate on ourselves first, because we need to be structurally ready and prepared," he says. "Playing against players like Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie, these guys are world class players so you can't take anything for granted. "You have got to make sure you stop them. But from a young age I have really believed that every player has got two arms and two legs."