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Was the Socceroos' campaign a success?

Ange Postecoglou (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Roar Guru
25th June, 2014
8

With their 3-0 loss to the might of Spain, the Socceroos’ World Cup campaign officially came to a close.

Attention now turns to the success, of lack thereof, during the tournament that saw a massively outmatched squad fight against three of the best nations in the world.

Surely not even the most green-and-gold-eyed Socceroo fan thought we were any chance of qualifying from 2014’s ‘Group Of Death’?

On paper, this young side comes home without a point, after conceding nine goals across three games. Part time fans of the team – those who tune in every four years expecting the Socceroos to win based on our nation being traditionally strong at sport – would say it has been an abject failure.

However Ange Postecoglou was appointed only eight months before the competition, where most managers had been in charge for the entire four-year qualifying campaign and preparation period.

We only just scraped through a relatively easy qualifying group under former manager Holger Osieck, who was removed from his post after consecutive 6-0 floggings to Brazil and France.

Ange, armed with the knowledge of the upcoming Asian Cup on home soil in 2015, picked a young side, with one eye to the aforementioned Asian Cup, and the other on the 2018 World Cup. We were never going to get through a group containing world champions Spain, runners-up of the previous World Cup the Netherlands, and South American powerhouse Chile.

The performances put in against Chile, and especially Holland, were exactly what we needed. The fact we led Holland is amazing, with the majority of viewers agreeing we probably deserved to gain at least a point from that game.

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More impressive that the performances though, has been Ange’s post-match comments. Although he was happy at the quality of football being played, he was disappointed with the results.

A good manager is never happy with a loss, regardless of the circumstances.

Ange has said, and done, all the right things since his appointment in October last year, and has taken this side forward.

Matt Leckie has been the star to emerge from a young squad. While Tim Cahill stole the headlines with two ripper goals, Leckie’s ability to run at opponents has put top-line sides in Europe on notice.

Mat Ryan, despite an error against the Dutch, has proved himself at the top level. Adam Taggart has just secured a move to Fulham, which means he will play in the second tier of English football next season.

Faced with almost zero hope of qualification, this young side has emerged big winners from the tournament. They have won millions of fans across the world, and more importantly, set themselves up for a huge Asian Cup.

Make no mistake, the expectation will be completely different come January next year, and the Socceroos will be expected to win on home soil.

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As for Russia 2018, under Ange, who knows just how far this amazingly talented squad will have developed?

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