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Socceroos reflect and refocus for Germany

Roar Guru
23rd March, 2015
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With little time to let their historic Asian Cup triumph sink in, the Socceroos are ready to get back to business as they prepare to test themselves against the world’s best.

Ange Postecoglou’s side meets world champions Germany in Kaiserslautern on Wednesday in their first outing since beating South Korea to claim the continental title on home soil in January.

With the bulk of the title-winning squad afforded little time to celebrate the achievement due to club commitments, the 10-day European camp – including friendlies in Germany and Macedonia – offers the first chance for some collective reflection.

James Troisi, who netted the extra-time winner in the final in Sydney, believes Australia are ready to build on their continental success and develop into a world class outfit on the road to Russia 2018.

But he’s relished a chance to reminisce with his Australian teammates in Mainz, the Socceroos’ training base this week.

“We were just speaking about it at dinner. It’s something that in years to come, when you see a clip of the team holding the trophy, that’s when it’s going to start to sink it,” said Troisi, one of the handful of early arrivals in Germany.

“For most of the boys, we had to come back pretty quickly to Europe so we didn’t really get to enjoy it as much as we would have liked.

“But that feeling is not going to go away and it’s an amazing feeling and achievement for all of us.

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“In saying that, we’ve got to be professional and we’re not going to forget about that but we’ve got to continue to progress and we know there’s a long way to go.”

Troisi, playing regularly with Belgian side Zulte Waregem, says an injury-depleted Australian side will probably “learn a lot of things” this week against a star-studded German team featuring the likes of Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller and Mesut Ozil.

“But knowing Ange, he’ll want us to not be scared and go out there and mix it with them,” Troisi said.

“We won’t be afraid and we’ve got nothing to lose.”

Postecoglou will be without his biggest attacking weapon after Tim Cahill was ruled out with an Achilles injury, paving the way for newcomers such as Troisi, Massimo Luongo and Tomi Juric to build on their Asian Cup success.

“It is (a blow) but watching the Asian Cup, it’s good to see we’re not relying on him (Cahill) or just one or two players any more,” Troisi said.

“Everyone’s pretty much put in their fair share of work and we’re definitely moving in the right direction.”

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