Socceroo stalwarts Brett Holman and Luke Wilkshire along with any other World Cup aspirant will have to show some exceptional form if they’re to dislodge anyone in the current squad, coach Ange Postecoglou has warned.
Postecoglou began his reign as mentor with a 1-0 win over Costa Rica in a friendly at Allianz Stadium on Tuesday, courtesy of a Tim Cahill goal.
The side largely delivered the attacking, possession-based game Postecoglou likes to play and dominated the world No.31 Costa Ricans in most aspects of the match.
Postecoglou left out the likes of Socceroo regulars Holman and Wilkshire when naming his first squad, while indicating the likes of Harry Kewell and other A-League players still need to prove themselves.
Postecoglou has been impressed with his entire 22-man squad after putting them through their paces for a whole week and, with only seven months until Australia play on football’s biggest stage – the World Cup in Brazil – he says it will take something special to take any one of their spots.
“We’ve set a standard now and, moving forward, it’s going to be really competitive to get into this squad,” he said.
“The 22 guys who worked this week are going to be hard to dislodge.
“People outside this squad are going to have to show good form to get in here so that’s the kind of standard we’ve set.
“I want to make sure we’re not giving away caps or representative honours from now on. We want people to earn them and certainly the 22 who contributed this week earned their spot.”
Australia’s defence looked the most solid it has in a while on Tuesday.
Postecoglou put young gun keeper Mat Ryan between the sticks with skipper Lucas Neill and Rhys Williams as the centrebacks, Ivan Franjic at right-back and Jason Davidson at left-back.
Dario Vidosic and Mathew Leckie started up front before Postecoglou brought on second-half substitutes Tom Rogic and Cahill, and both impressed in the opening stanza.
Crystal Palace skipper Mile Jedinak, Mark Milligan and Mark Bresciano were typically solid in midfield along with Robbie Kruse who was exceptional on the wide right.
“It’s hard for me to pick a standout,” Postecoglou said.
“But the two fullbacks were fantastic and I think the whole back four, that’s an area we’ve had some issues with … but Mat Ryan and the back four were fantastic.
“Mile and Millsy in the middle controlled things really well from a defensive point of view and got forward.
“And the three guys up front were really mobile and dangerous all the time and they’ll get better. The likes of Mat Leckie and Dario and Kruse is a quality player and then you’ve got Tommy Rogic and Oar.
“So there’s plenty of positives.”
Postecoglou feels he’s been able to lay a solid foundation before the Socceroos next get together in March for another international friendly.
“It was a good starting point but we’ve got to build,” he said.
“When we get together in March, I’ve said to the players ‘we can’t drop below this standard now; we’ve got to get better’.”
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Cameron Burgess scored the winner to confirm Ipswich’s status as a Premier League club.
Socceroo Cameron Burgess has put Ipswich within touching distance of the Premier League after a 2-1 win over Coventry in the English Championship. Kieffer…
Who stood out from the Australians both here and overseas in a busy week of the world game? Goalkeeper - Mathew Ryan- 3-0 win…
Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
What if we celebrated all of the achievements big and small, and weeded out those hell-bent on bringing down a game that is doing a hell of a lot right?
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
