Australian soccer in decline, says Ange
ANGE Postecoglou contends Australia’s World Cup results have vindicated his vision and exposed the Socceroos’ lack of progress since he walked away from the job.
He also offered his clearest explanation yet as to why he quit eight months ago, revealing his “feeling of isolation” amid growing discontent around his attack at all costs approach.
Australia failed to score from open play in Russia, finishing last in Group C with a single point after losing to France 2- 1, drawing with Denmark ( 1- 1) and going down 2- 0 to Peru.
In a Players Voice piece rendering his shock resignation even more inexplicable, the Yokohama F. Marinos manager reiterated his recent sentiments that Australian football has declined, arguing the national team has promise but “must shed our inferiority complex” to truly compete on the world stage.
Without directly criticising his short- term replacement Bert van Marwijk, he bemoaned the way “competitiveness and defensive stability” became the Socceroos’ main perceived strengths.
“These are not positives from this World Cup. We have always done this,” Postecoglou wrote.
He revisited his objective as coach to move past Australia’s World Cup battler status of the past.
“I believed, wrongly in the end, that we had now entered a phase where we no longer had to feel underappreciated or place ourselves in that most comfortable position, the eternal underdog. Let’s now stand up and show that we could conquer that last bastion of our sport.
“By 2017, I came to the realisation that in fact, rather than me riding on a tidal wave of change, I was in essence on a personal crusade. That did not sit well with me. What has happened and transpired since I left the position shows me my instincts were right. We still want to be the underdog.”
Postecoglou also addressed negative commentary around Australia’s largely frustrating qualifying campaign underlined by a perceived erosion of that “defensive stability” under his three- at- the- back system, citing poor pitches, trying climates and defensively minded opponents.
Despite scraping through via playoffs after failing to qualify directly through Asia, he asserted the Socceroos did not need world- class players to play out from the back because “the major ingredient is courage”. “Our game was designed so that we could be effective on good pitches, in good weather against opposition who wouldn’t sit back at a World Cup!”