Socceroos mix it with the best

FOR Ange Postecoglou there was regret to go with the pride.

The Socceroos manager saw a “missed opportunity” in Russia after his young side put in a rousing performance with a 1-1 draw against South American champion Chile in their final group game at the Confederations Cup, but failed to secure the victory needed to reach the semi-finals.

Australia needed to win by two clear goals to leap-frog Chile in the final standings.

And for long periods the Socceroos looked like pulling it off.

“I thought we were the better side and deserved to get something,” Postecoglou said. “I don’t see it as progression, I see it as what we’re expecting. We measure ourselves against the very best and we’re not quite there yet at the moment.

“We needed to face up to them tonight. It’s what we want to be as a team. We’ve tried to be like that against every team we’ve played.

“We obviously wanted to win the game and win by two goals but more importantly we wanted to be the team that was dominating the game.”

There were stand out performances across the park, few more so than in the fresh defensive midfield partnership of Massimo Luongo and Jackson Irvine, who set the tone, refusing to be cowed by more celebrated opponents.

“It was going to be intense from the start, we know how tenacious and aggressive Chile are and the way they like to play,” Irvine said.

“Right from the offset we made our intent very clear.”

The tournament in Russia was a testing ground for a young squad with ambitions in far-reaching development.

“There are guys out there [in the Socceroos team] that should be playing for top clubs,” Postecoglou said.

“We’re not far away from being a good team but to get to where we want to, we need some of our boys to get an opportunity to play at the highest level consistently. That will prepare them better for top-level football.”