The 26-year-old tore his anterior cruciate ligament in January and was forced to watch from afar as the Socceroos lost to Spain, Netherlands and Chile in Brazil.
Kruse acknowledged nothing would make up for missing out on a first World Cup but added the carrot of competing at a home Asian Cup kept him going as he battled back to full fitness.
"My rehab went for about seven or eight months... this tournament I was working towards the whole time," Kruse told reporters on Tuesday.
"I was at rehab for seven, eight hours a day and I've never had to work that long in my life.
"I can't right the wrong of not being able to go to the World Cup. You go through so many emotions when you miss out on a big tournament like a World Cup and I'm thankful that this has come around just six months later.
"Hopefully this Asian Cup I can really stamp my authority on the competition."
Kruse made his debut for the Socceroos prior to the 2011 Asian Cup and scored the final goal in a 6-0 rout of Uzbekistan in the semi-finals of the tournament in Qatar where Australia finished as runners-up to Japan.
Kruse went on to establish himself as a regular under former coach Holger Osieck, who was axed shortly before the World Cup following back-to-back 6-0 friendly defeats by Brazil and France.
Kruse returned to action following the length injury lay off in October with Leverkusen but has been used infrequently since.
Despite that, he was named in Ange Postecoglou's 23-man Asian Cup squad and is likely to feature regularly along with central striker Tim Cahill when the Socceroos take on South Korea, Kuwait and Oman in Group A matches.
However, nothing will be taken for granted.
"Learning how to walk and contract your muscles again, it's quite taxing. You miss out on so many things and you start to appreciate how good of a life you have as a footballer," he said.
"Sometimes I used to get annoyed at having to train all the time but now I'm just happy to be able to run on the field."
(Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
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