From hopeless to hyped, Ange Postecoglou isn’t fussed what you think.
“I handle everyone writing us off okay. I think I’ll handle all the hype,” Postecoglou said.
Postecoglou’s Socceroos, morphing from a one-man band into a ensemble of sweet scorers, are now coping with bounding Asian Cup expectations.
Australia clobbered a hapless Oman in Sydney on Tuesday night, winning 4-1 to advance to the quarter-finals.
They’ve banked eight goals, all by different scorers, in two cup games. A week ago, it was who else but Tim Cahill can score. Now, it’s who can’t.
The drubbing of Oman followed a 4-1 blitz of Kuwait, sprouting prospects of Australia claiming its first meaningful soccer silverware.
And Postecoglou is ready for such hype.
“I have got a real belief in this group of players and the way we’re going about things. And it has never been an issue for me what the external view is of us,” he said.
“I still think people underestimate us, which is great. But from my perspective, nothing changes.
“It’s not just about the Asia Cup. We’re going into a four-year World Cup cycle.
“We started 14 months ago … it’s about building a new team, changing the way we play and that is what we’re doing.
“A lot of the guys out there are in their early 20s or mid 20s and have got a good four years in them and we have got to make sure we keep improving.
“And whatever comes our way along the way, we will just take.
“But whether people think we’re favourites now or they still think we’re ranked 300 in the world – it doesn’t make any difference to me.”
The Socceroos travelled to Brisbane on Wednesday to prepare for Saturday night’s showdown with South Korea – the winner tops their group.
Given their positive goal difference – six – over the Koreans, a draw would be enough for the Socceroos, who expect captain Mile Jedinak to return from an ankle injury.
For most, the Socceroos’ improvement appears sudden – Postecoglou entered the cup with two wins from a dozen games as Australia’s world ranking slipped below 100 for the first time.
But for the coach, it was all about time.
“People forget I virtually had two, three games in charge and we were thrown into a World Cup,” he said.
“There’s no way I was going to radically change everything we were doing, it just wouldn’t have been fair.
“But since the World Cup, every camp we have had, we have progressed.
“We have become more proactive. We have adjusted the roles of the players.”
Australia remain ranked 100, a slot which bemused Postecoglou who said the Asian Cup showings belie the lowly status.
“I’m sure there’s some bloke at FIFA right now who does the rankings who has got a headache trying to work out how a team ranked as low as we are can play that kind of football,” he said.
“But that is life.”
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