Fresh from Asian Cup glory, can Ange Postecoglou’s revolution see the Socceroos challenge globally at Russia 2018?
After an exhilarating tournament where Australia fell back in love with an attractive and ultimately successful style of football from the Socceroos, the vindication must be sweet for Postecoglou and his young team after a rocky 2014.
But as Ange made clear this week, one would be mistaken that being crowned the best team in Asia would be the pinnacle of their ambitions.
Ange has been clear all throughout his tenure that his aims for the Socceroos have been to dominate games in Asia and consistently become the best team in Asia. And his interview on the eve of the Asian Cup final made clear his desire to challenge the world.
The immediate challenge will be to maintain the Socceroos’ dominance in Asia, and qualify for Russia 2018, which, as we have discovered in previous campaigns, is no simple feat. As Japan found out, Asian football doesn’t respect champions and all the Asian teams will be extra keen to knock Australia off its perch.
But with a young and hungry team with greater depth and new stars such as Trent Sainsbury and Massimo Luongo emerging during this tournament, Postecoglou and the Socceroos must surely be looking to Russia 2018 with ambition.
Of course, beating the likes of Kuwait, Oman, China, UAE and South Korea is a wholly different proposition to regularly taking on the top footballing countries in the globe and winning. But there is no reason why Australia can’t take its place among the upper echelons of football, just as we’ve done in other sports.
When you think about Brazil 2014, there really wasn’t too much between us, Chile and the Netherlands, who were eventual semi-finalists. And this Socceroos team is much stronger than it was six months ago.
So what could drive Australia to challenge the world’s top teams?
Reflecting the best parts of the Australian spirit, no doubt the Postecoglou philosophy and approach to the game has been integral to the Socceroos’ revival.
Ange’s approach of ‘one eye to the future’ has been vindicated at the Asian Cup, and we can hope for more improvement as much of the broader squad could well be hitting their peak and hopefully playing for some of the top teams around the world come Russia 2018.
His efforts to promote player depth over his tenure worked wonders during the Asian Cup, which saw player rotation being a strength. Perhaps the untimely injury to Chris Herd left some vulnerability at right back, but aside from that, across the park there was real depth.
This philosophy and player depth will continue to be vital to our hopes for moving up the global pecking order.
Another key Australian advantage could be our strengths in sports science. The professionalism of the set-up under Postecoglou worked wonders in the Asian Cup and this could help us on our way.
While Russia 2018 is a long way away, there are grounds for optimism. Perhaps even Australia could put on its best ever showing and make the quarter-finals.
We saw in Brazil 2014 teams such as Costa Rica making the quarter-finals – there is no reason why Australia couldn’t emulate those giant-killing efforts. And from there anything, and I mean anything, could happen.
But let’s not get carried away yet.
With ambition to challenge the world, the Socceroos are starting with perhaps their toughest assignment – a friendly in March against reigning FIFA World Cup champions, Germany. While still only a friendly, Ange and the Socceroos will be keen to test their style against the world champions.
Hopefully this will be the first of many regular friendlies where we pit ourselves against the best European and South American opposition.
Over to you Roarers – is this just a pipe dream or can the Socceroos challenge the world’s footballing superpowers?
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