There may be a degree of the unknown in what awaits the Socceroos in the first phase of qualifying for Russia 2018 after Tuesday’s draw, but there’s also a sense of anticipation that wasn’t there at the beginning of the past two qualifying cycles.
That buzz is essentially about where Ange Postecoglou might have the reigning Asian champions by the end of the qualifying campaign in 2017.
While Pim Verbeek and Holger Osieck both achieved part of their objective by qualifying the Socceroos for South Africa and Brazil respectively, it’s fair to say they didn’t do it with any great style or thought towards the future.
Pragmatism, conservative selections and tactics, and a general lack of faith and ambition were the hallmarks of the Socceroos between Guus Hiddink and Postecoglou.
How the players managed to conjure the spirit to qualify despite the lack of assured work from the men at the helm is a credit to their resilience as much as it is a reflection on the overall lack of conviction from many of our Asian opponents in those campaigns.
The Socceroos were there for the taking, and on the brink for large parts of the South Africa and Brazil qualifiers, but our opponents didn’t really have the quality to knock us out, essentially meaning we limped to both World Cups.
In the past 18 months, at both the World Cup in Brazil and January’s Asian Cup, Postecoglou has shown that we can at least start to think bigger.
We can start to think about going to Russia with a team on the rise, both in terms of the FIFA rankings and playing formula.
We can think about going to Russia with a detailed plan centered around upbeat attacking and pressing from a young, well-drilled team ready to take it to whatever opponent is thrust at us.
Brazil was very encouraging in that Postecoglou, with such a short preparation, was able to regenerate his squad and convince them they had enough quality to take it to the likes of Chile, Holland and Spain, when the reality was they didn’t.
The period between Brazil and the Asian Cup, with Postecoglou chopping and changing his players around, had many worried he just didn’t have the quality to get the job done in January.
But again he proved the doubters wrong, highlighting what power a detailed preparation, knowledge and mental strength can bring a squad.
The fact he was able to deal with the pressure of playing at home to overcome a well-led South Korean side, with style, spoke volumes to the qualities the manager has already brought into the national team, or brought back.
Apart from the development shown from the likes of Matt Ryan, Trent Sainsbury and Mass Luongo, one of the great features of the Asian Cup was that the majority contributed, both in terms of goals and overall performance.
All the players bought in to the Postecoglou plan.
Above all else this looked a happy and united squad, something we didn’t sense under Verbeek and Osieck, who appeared to play favourites and passed on too much power to the “stars”.
The FFA, obsessed about commercialising “Brand Socceroos”, were complicit in all this, enabling the culture to fester and not have the smarts to identify the problem.
It’s taken Postecoglou, with all his football sense, to come in apply a sweep of the broom.
The Asian Cup success gives him even more authority. Managing the inevitable Tim Cahill exit, which he has done so well already, finding a reliable solution at right back and a long term team enabler in the number six role are just some of the tasks ahead.
When I asked Postecoglou, in the immediate aftermath of the Asian Cup win, what comes next and how he plans to take the team forward at a technical level, he was straight into the detail, sure of way forward.
There was no great song and dance, but you could tell he’d already thought the question through in his own mind.
The path had only begun. It was about continued improvement, he argued, as individuals and a team, and eventually getting to the point where the Roos could go to the World Cup convinced they had the game to make an inroad beyond the group phase.
For Socceroos fans, it’s an exciting prospect.
Fundamentally, can we go to the level of being a team that can not only hurt opponents by pressing and transitioning hard, but by having the smarts and creativity to break down teams that play with a packed defence?
Do we have to smarts, even if we are controlling possession, to not get caught out in defensive transition?
In all this, who comes through over the next few years to become a new star not only for the national team, but on the European club scene?
Do we start to see some of the technically proficient kids that have come through the national curriculum pathway break through ahead of Russia?
While trips to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Jordan and Bangladesh await in the second half of this year, Postecoglou will balance getting results against the broader agenda of growing the team.
The second part of that agenda is something we haven’t seen the past two World Cup campaigns, and that makes the road to Russia an intriguing watch.
Griffo
Roar Guru
You have to be optimistic going into our third World Cup qualifying campaign via the AFC. The first one (under Pim) was a bit of an unknown, while off the back of a promising 2011 Asian Cup run and questions around regeneration it became not when but if we would qualify for Brazil. We should be confident heading into 2018 World Cup qualification, especially as Asian Champions, and how we are playing now going into the campaign. Also there is going to be no better preparation against quality opponents than the 2017 Confederations Cup - hopefully already qualified for Russia 2018 by then - and this tournament will be a real litmus test of how well we have transitioned and grown in the Ange era post-Asian Cup triumph. With a number of potential players yet to come through, we should be quietly confident this time around, and the national team heading into 2018 could offer us great hope of going deeper into the World Cup than ever before as well as defending the Asian Cup in 2019.
RBBAnonymous
Guest
First of all lets make it to the World Cup. We cant let ourselves get to far ahead of ourselves, no matter who our opponents are. On paper at least it looks like a favourable draw but having said that, we did lose to Jordan away in a previous W C campaign. Then you have far flung places like Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan which I imagine would be a logistical nightmare to get to, but I am sure we will well prepared with Ange. If we learn't anything from Brazil is that the World Cup is deep with many talented teams in the competition. On any given day a more fancied team could lose to an less favoured opponent. It happened with Costa Rica and Greece and a few other teams. I could name 10 teams at the very least who could be argued had realistic chances of winning the tournament - Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, France, Belgium, Portugal, England for the EPL fan boys and maybe Ghana. No matter how your draw is situated in the World Cup you are bound to be grouped with at least 2 good teams, which makes getting out of the group now quite an achievement. You need a carefully selected squad where every player will be used except maybe the reserve goalkeepers. Then you also need a decent draw or a favourable result or a slice of luck to get you on your way. Lets not get complacent because we cant think that going to the W C is our god given right, thats when it goes belly up on you and the national ends up at watching the W C at home.
Tom Findlay
Guest
'Pragmatism, conservative selections and tactics, and a general lack of faith and ambition were the hallmarks of the Socceroos between Guus Hiddink and Postecoglou.' I like the fact you write about football Tony. Wannabe pro football pundits have to start somewhere. Good on you. Notwithstanding, the Socceroos under Verbeek had never undertaken a World Cup campaign through Asia. Qualifying, as one of the first three teams for South Africa, along with Holland and Japan, sounds like a commendable achievement. We also had the best goals for/against ratio in Asia. With the players he had at his disposal, Verbeek had to come up with a very meticulous game plan in every fixture. If the game plan did not work, we had few players who could change the result with individual brilliance. We still don't.
Bondy
Guest
Did you use to post here as UkSteve? ...
Batou
Guest
Forgot about DDS as well. It's exciting to think where he *could* be in a few years time...
Batou
Guest
It's good to see you back Tony. I can't wait to see how this qualification plays out. Not so much in terms of whether we top this group or not as we absolutely should and will but in terms if out own team, who steps up, how our play evolves and like others have mentioned if we can improve against opponents who set out to defend deep the whole game. I wonder if we may see a little less of Leckie than we have in recent games? There went be so much need for his running so a player with a little more guile (who?) might get a chance instead. Alternatively this could be his chance to put a few goals next to his name...
Steve
Guest
How does that change anything? An expat isn't allowed to give his opinion and you will just shout him down for being a foreigner? Classy
Batou
Guest
Antonis. The kid is only 21 (?) or thereabouts and has huge potential. Also the next couple if years will tell us whether Amini is going to go on to bigger things or just spend a solid career in second tier European football. I have high hopes for both
Bondy
Guest
Steve The first poster refereed to the Australian National Team as them ? . What the hell does that mean ?. Who the hell are they ? .. Don't you get it ? . They are not us I.E. Australian ...
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
Yes strange!!!!! LordBruce maybe didn't like your comment.
Steve
Guest
The question in the article asks how far we will go in 2018. The first poster gave his opinion and others just howled him down without addressing his opinion. I simply came to provide the facts. We all know Fuss only likes facts when it suits him though
Bondy
Guest
I've noticed the Swans have imitated the Wanderers away kit ? .
Uncle Junior
Guest
I just can't see what valuable insights you provide. It's a world cup. 16 nations fail to make it to the Round of 16 from the Group stages. Some of the biggest nations in the World, including Argentina, France, Italy, England have failed at the Group Stage over the years; just like Australia. So your conclusion is: we may succeed, or we may fail? Ok then. Thanks for that.
Bondy
Guest
The artist formerly known as Punter They've removed my post strange, I didn't think it was disrespectful ...
Steve
Guest
I don't know why you are so upset. Basically I am saying the same without the hyper emotive language. The fact is when we have played the best sides st the World Cup we have lost. Brazil, Italy, Germany, Chile, Netherlands and Spain. We have played well in parts of those games, very well in fact, but ultimately we did lose each of them. Fact. Now can we at least draw against a side like that in a competitive game, I believe we can. But it will be tough and it remains to be seen if 2018 will be the year we get a result against a big nation. Given our form at the past three World cups and depending who we draw, we may very well proceed past the group stages. Equally, it wouldn't surprise me were we to fall in the group's again.
Uncle Junior
Guest
"we can battle with the 2nd tier Euro nations, as well as the North Americans, Africans and Asians." So basically you're saying Australia has demonstrate itself to be super competitive at World Cups. In 2006 we were beaten by the eventual world champions and had a fantastic match against Brazil. It was only in stoppage time after 90 minutes that Brazil sealed the match. In 2010, Australia only lost one match to Germany. We got thumped by them. So did Argentina filled with players from the Top leagues and clubs in the world. So did an England team filled with EPL players. And Australia played that German team with 1 less player for the final 30 minutes. Argentina and England had 11 v 11. In 2014 we were super competitive against Chile and Netherlands. Finally we were smashed by current World and European Champions. Only people who have no affection for our national team and/or no understanding of the international competition would be dismissive of Australia's world cup performances in 2006, 2010 and 2014.
oly09
Guest
We also got smashed 4-0 by Germany, which probably should have been 5 or 6 goals considering how many chances they had.
Kaks
Roar Guru
Brian, We were great defensively but we struggled to score goals. We were also very one dimensional. Kick and chase was our way of playing at it was extremely hard to watch. In my opinion we were not as good as the stats say we were and our team had a lack of chemistry that was evident. Again this is my opinion that many share, i respect your opinion if you disagree. Its all the past now and the future is looking great which is all that matters
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
One thing that ange will have to take into account is that his team will no longer or at least less often be under estimated by top opponents and that may change a few things. The rest if the world has seen that those guys could play (wc) and even win (Asian cup) big games. Until now playing Oz in a wc was 'the easy game', the match where things were tried or players rested if necessary, and the consideration given to the opponents was perhaps not at it's highest. I don't think this will again be the case. The 6~0 losses are far and Oz will have to cope with this newly acquired respect.
oly09
Guest
We were only undefeated in the final stage of qualifiers. We lost to China and Qatar in the first group stage. We also rode our luck in the second stage - I remember seeing us completely outplayed in away games to Bahrain and Uzbekistan but we somehow won. (In one game Bres scored in the final minute after it was backs to the wall).