“There is a lot more pressure on the national team than in club football because in club football there is always another game but in internationals, you play a tournament and you either do well or not.”

These are the words of Yaser Kasim, one of six Swindon Town players to have represented their country at a major tournament whilst playing for the club, alongside Jonny Williams, Jojo Wollacott, Massimo Luongo, Alan McLoughlin, and Jan Åge Fjørtoft.

“Everybody is onto you,” He continued, “The fans, the media and the reality is that you cannot create the same sort of atmosphere that we had at Swindon because you are not training together every day.”

Kasim was part of the Iraq side that made the semi-finals of the Asian Cup in 2015, a tournament that would be won by his teammate Luongo, who also took home the MVP award.

“I think it was a dream come true,” said Williams. He had played at two European Championships prior to joining Swindon in 2021 but would get the chance to play at the World Cup during his time in Wiltshire.

“Sometimes you feel like it is a different sport. It is such a high level with world-class players, and they play the game beyond most people if you look at their intelligence, they are one step ahead all the time, let alone their technical ability. They are phenomenal footballers and luckily, we [Wales] had two or three on our team that were at that level along with a lot of other Premier League players and obviously we had that togetherness.”

Interestingly, Kasim was not as taken aback by the calibre of the top players he went up against during his experiences with Iraq. His side would face the likes of Heung-Min Son, Shinji Kagawa, and Keisuke Honda during their run to the last four.

He said: “You realise that the difference between the top players and the players that play in a lower division is not that great. It may seem great but if you get the opportunity to be playing with that sort of squad then you will benefit.

“When I played Japan, it was quite easy for them to get on the ball and move because they have all been playing at the high levels and playing with good players and so they relax. When you are playing with top-class players it is as if you are in a boxing gym, sparring with the best boxers, you are only going to get better. I realised that these guys are at a high level, but it is not an unattainable level.”

With Williams, the potential of him playing at a World Cup had been an ongoing narrative throughout the season. Injury problems had plagued his career, but he was able to stay fit and experience his best form for Town in those months leading up to Qatar.

“It was a case of going back to my mum and dad’s with my brothers sat there,” said Williams on his eventual call-up, “We were watching the squad be announced and it was just an amazing achievement. It is every boy’s dream to go to a World Cup.

“Ever since I have been playing for Wales from the under-15s to think I was going to go to a World Cup with the senior team was crazy. It really was a phenomenal feeling.”

But once you arrive at the tournament, especially stepping up from the lower leagues, the life of being in the big time can be something of a culture shock.

Kasim said: “It definitely felt like we were doing something monumental. In the hotel we were staying at, there were fans outside the lobby, and they had to get security.

“You do have to change your behaviour because you don’t want to get too caught up with the fans and the pictures. If one pulls you to one side and it takes a minute, then another and then another one and before you know it your equilibrium goes. Really, you just want to wake up and go to the gym, go to the swimming pool, get breakfast, and you have your routine and I love my routine when I am back home or in a hotel waiting for a game. It is nice and you have got to give time to them [the fans] but you have got to maintain your energy and so I tried to stay away as much as possible.

“Back home the Facebook pages and the social media were going off and all the other outlets. But back then my Arabic was not that good, so that meant I wasn’t really listening to it or watching a lot of the shows and the news that was about us. I was able to relax in the hotel and really look forward to the games.”

Williams had quite a specific problem during his time in Doha: “I had to stay out of the sun, to be honest, I was absolutely frazzled. When we trained it was really hot and they tried to limit the times we trained to try and avoid the sun and peak times so that we could get good training sessions in.

“The FAW would always make sure that we would have films available in the evening, table tennis tables, playing cards, and the lads would be on their PlayStations together playing Call of Duty in their rooms. I found all of that stuff helpful because it was a way of switching off from the pressures and the stresses of being at a major tournament.”

Then with all of that commotion going on you might forget that you still have to play the games. Kasim couldn’t have asked for a better first game as he scored the winner against Jordan.

“I was just wanting to affect the game,” he said. "I knew this was a team we could beat and then the other team in the group was Japan, and we knew they were going to be difficult.

“I remember it was near the 70th minute or so and we had to dominate the game and get a goal. I wasn’t quite relieved, but I was really happy that we just beat that team because it just gave us a fighting chance. I think beforehand people saw how I came across and what I wanted to do for the country but that goal kind of cemented that we could go on and do well.”

That goal got Iraq off to a flying start but there were to be more big moments to come for Kasim once they reached the quarter-final against Iran. He went through the biggest pressure moment you can experience in football, a major tournament penalty shootout.

He said: “I think it really grew after the quarter-final, that was one of the best games ever in Asian Cup football. Generally, Arabs connect with people who want to do well for their country, and I think that connection just grew whilst the spotlight was on me.

“It was a weird one [taking the penalty] because you think it is going to be really pressurised, but I wouldn’t say that it was. For me it was daunting. Walking up to the penalty spot and understanding that the weight of the country is on your shoulders.

“It is quite daunting, but the pressure isn’t quite there because you played the game. It is like just stepping out on a football pitch, yes you can be nervous walking up to that penalty spot but because you have done this so many times you understand that you have to do it. You are almost calm as you are stepping up and whatever happens, happens and luckily, I got my goal. [When it went in] it was a little bit of relief.”

Coming off the highs of their performances at the Asian Cup there were suggestions that Kasim and Luongo never managed to reach the same heights for Swindon that they did before heading off to Australia.

Williams said of coming back after Qatar: “It is hard to transition from being at a World Cup back to League Two and the relentless Saturday-Tuesday games. It might have been different had I played but it was hard to train with a proper intensity just because of the heat and humidity. For the people that weren’t playing, we would get some work in after the games but in terms of competitive minutes and intensity, we didn’t really get that the whole time I was out there.

“I think I started the first game after I came back and played as long as I could, maybe 70 or 80 minutes and then I went from there. I think I even played a training ground game against Newport that had been organised for a few players that were returning from injury and that came at a good time because Scott Lindsey gave me half a game.”

Kasim said there was more than just a bit of jet lag that made the transition back to club football a more difficult one than you would expect.

“It is enjoyable but it also has this sort of pressure where you have to understand what is happening because you can get caught up in it. You can go abroad, play two games, fly 10 to 14 hours and then come back and play on the Saturday after training once or twice and then play again on the Tuesday. We are jam-packing games and a lot of miles.

“Playing fatigued was a part of it but also when you leave you have something set up; you have the style of play, you have the week to week, and you have the form. When you leave other players have to come in and things might change a little bit, the club might change, and the team might change. All it takes in football is one week to change it: from good to bad or bad to good. It was just that the style might have changed a little bit, different players weren’t connecting as well, or they had just gotten into the team.

“Because we [Kasim and Luongo] are two midfielders, that broke a little bit of that connection, and you can feel it when you come back. You are feeling ‘ok, I have to get back into this, play the right football and dominate like we were before the Asian Cup’. And it wasn’t quite there for a little bit. I think we got it back but of course, you have missed a month, which in football terms is a really long time.”