HANGZHOU, China -- Melbourne Victory midfielder Ryan Teague has been in demand across the past few months, fielding interest from the national teams of both China and Malaysia amid a breakout A-League Men campaign. But for the recently called-up Socceroo, his international future only ever lay in green-and-gold.
A season on from returning to Australia after a stint in Europe and establishing himself as a regular in the Victory midfield, Teague has made the leap to one of the A-League's standout players in 2024-25, partnering with Jordi Valadon to form arguably the best young midfield in the competition.
But Teague's strong form hadn't just put him on the radar for a first senior call-up for Australia, with the midfielder also fielding interest from the Chinese Football Association. The Sydney-born 23-year-old is eligible to represent China thanks to his mother's heritage.
"They reached out to me," Teague confirmed to ESPN. "I don't really like to be involved in those conversations, so I moved that over to my agent. But I've been very clear since the start of my football career that my goal has been to play for the Socceroos.
"I'm proud of my Chinese background and my culture there. But everything in my whole life, [Australian football is] all I know, so it's great being here with the Socceroos."
Football has a funny way of throwing up coincidences like this, and Teague could potentially make his senior international debut against China on Tuesday, previously serving as an unused substitute in the Socceroos' 5-1 win over Indonesia in their first FIFA World Cup qualifier of the March window last week.
It's not, however, the only international that he might have been playing this week, with the former Australian Under-17s captain confirming to ESPN that he had also fielded interest from Malaysia in recent months. Harimau Malaya, who will face Nepal in an AFC Asian Cup qualifier on Tuesday evening, recently appointed Australian Peter Cklamovski as their new coach.
"That was something that came up ... because I have Malaysian heritage," the midfielder explained. "Which I didn't know until a couple of months ago -- so that was new to me!
"[The Malaysian FA] came up to me but, again, that just goes all through my agent. I try to stay well clear of that."
Of course, as one might expect, when news of a potential new addition to Malaysia's ranks arose, Teague also found himself the subject of an intense recruitment push.
"[Malaysian fans] were DM-ing me as well!" Teague laughed. "It is what it is."
With three games to play in the third phase of Asian qualification, the Socceroos occupy one of the two automatic qualification slots on offer in Group C, a point clear of third-placed Saudi Arabia and four ahead of the trio of Indonesia, Bahrain, and China.
A win against China on Tuesday won't ensure that the Australians join Japan in punching their tickets to the 2026 World Cup, but it would represent a significant step towards doing so heading into June's final slate of fixtures. Elsewhere in Group C, the Saudis will travel to face the undefeated Samurai Blue, while Patrick Kluivert's Indonesia will host Bahrain.
"I feel like [Popovic] doesn't look too far ahead," Socceroos striker Mitch Duke, who jetted into China after injuries to Adam Taggart and Kusini Yengi, told ESPN. "He's approaching game by game, not allowing us to get too far ahead.
"With everything that he's set within the group, we're just focused now on China. The Indonesian game is done, we've done our review and looked back on that game on the things that we can do better."