Exactly 365 days after suffering the most horrific injury of his career, Abbas finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel by playing his first match of football. The Iraqi international managed to play 75 minutes at left back during Sydney FC Youth's 1-0 win over FFA Centre of Excellence on Sunday to draw a close on the most difficult time of his career, one where many questioned whether he would play again. It was the biggest leap the 29-year-old took towards playing first team football again and is hopeful of being available for selection by early January.

"My body felt a little bit better and I was happy to play 75 minutes and just get the legs to see what's happening, it's been a long time now, 12 months. It felt really good, the knee. I'm not fit but it will take a lot of work for all of us to get fit," Abbas said. "It's been a long, long time and we haven't got there yet but I'm really happy where I am today and just sometimes, it's hard for me to keep thinking about the injury because it's always on my mind. Sometimes you have to focus on just the knee, how I can get back and thank god it happened today."

Abbas suffered three separate injuries as a result of one heavy tackle from former Western Sydney Wanderers midfielder Iacopo La Rocca on November 30, 2014 which ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament, medial crucial ligament and tore his meniscus. The initial prognosis was that he would not play any professional football in 2015 at best and at worst, his professional career faced the daunting prospect of an abrupt end at the age of 28. Abbas admits the thought of a forced retirement crossed his mind in the immediate aftermath of his major knee reconstruction.

"I had that fear but just mentally I had to try and think I would comeback and not tell myself 'I can't do this'. I had to be a man, and if somebody tells me that I can't do this, I will show them. I had to ignore people saying I won't come back and if they said it, I used it as motivation to prove them wrong," Abbas said.

Cruelly, that injury dashed his hopes of playing for his national team during the 2015 Asian Cup hosted by Australia. Abbas' form leading up to the tournament was career-best and he was assured of playing first-team football for eventual quarter-finalists, Iraq.

"After I got injured, I met the coach of the Iraqi national team, I met him and he said I was in the first eleven team and then I got injured. I had to just prepare myself, get better and hopefully I will be back in the national team again," he said.

Despite the nature of the injury, Abbas says he harbours no animosity towards La Rocca.

​"Whatever happened, happened. I don't care about this stuff anymore, I have to move on," he said. "It doesn't bother me and it gives me more motivation to push myself and to be on the Sydney FC squad, to represent Sydney FC, to make the fans happy to see me and push my teammates. I'm not thinking about it anymore."