Asian Cup 2015: Ange Postecoglou says meticulous planning gone into Socceroos fitness
ANGE Postecoglou’s immediate future will be defined by the United Arab Emirates - but so is his past. He still vividly remembers one particular game in 2003.
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ANGE Postecoglou’s immediate future will be defined by the United Arab Emirates - but so is his past. His team stands potentially 90 minutes from the final of the Asian Cup, the UAE standing in his way.
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But 12 years ago they were too, and Postecoglou learnt some bitter lessons that night which inform his decision-making even now.
They are part of a mental database going back nearly 19 years, half of it coaching national teams, which partly explain his incredulity - and anger - at the suggestion he remains a greenhorn coach.
In 2003 Postecoglou was leading the Young Socceroos at the U20 World Cup, topping their group after a famous win over Brazil. But the toll that took on his side left them so depleted they lost in the round of 16 to an 89th-minute goal - against the UAE.
“After the Korea game (last week), I had a good chat to Graham Arnold and he reminded me that back in 2003 he was helping me out with the under-20s,” Postecoglou said.
“We topped the group but, because we didn’t change the team, because we wanted to defeat Brazil so much in the group stage, we were spent.
“We lost to the UAE and Brazil went on to win the World Cup. We had a good chance to get deeper into the tournament and Arnie said to me (last week): “You’ve got to focus on the end goal”.
“We’ve learned those lessons all along, so the physical aspect has been really important. We knew this was going to be a challenging tournament. Again, my inside knowledge of working in Australia, I know how tough it is to travel here but I think some of the other countries underestimated how hard it would be.
“They look at a flight from Melbourne to Sydney and think it’s an hour and think it’s easy, but it’s not. Anyone who’s travelled from Melbourne to Sydney will tell you it takes up most of your day. Travelling from Adelaide to Brisbane or Newcastle to Melbourne, it’s the same. It’s a day in your schedule.
“We’ve tried to be really meticulous in our planning. The staff have been unbelievable. The coaches, the medical staff, the conditioning staff. Not a minute goes by when they’re not conscious of what the players are doing. That’s been a key part of our growth because the tempo of which we’ve played hasn’t dropped in any of our four games.
“Of the four quarter-finals, we looked the strongest from the physical aspect from all the teams there.”
His reaction to winning that quarter-final was illuminating, as straight after the defeat of China he let rip at critics across the board. Though days later he was able to joke about what might have caused him to fire up, there is a passion inside him about those who question the project he has embarked upon.
“That’s what annoys me more than anything else, that people actually think that I feel under pressure or my job is on the line,” he said.
“If it was job security I was after, I wouldn’t have taken the job. I was pretty settled at Victory, I was pretty settled at Brisbane Roar and could have had a contract for life.
“I’m not worried about it. What annoyed me was that we lost a football game against Korea where I thought we played really well without Mile Jedinak, Tim Cahill and MB. So people start talking about the end result, and I can understand from people that don’t follow the game closely, but those who do follow closely?
“We could have got to this stage, scrape through with four points from the group stage, won on penalties in the quarters and still be in the same position. But I reckon I could have been under the heat then because people say that’s not good enough.
“The football we have played - people kept telling me it was a massive difference between club and international football, you can’t get an international team to play like a club team. Well, whether you believe in a style of game that I believe in, you can’t tell me we are not playing that after 14 months.
“We’re seeing some exciting 22-23-year-olds developing, under a lot of pressure. The timing of what we did 14 months ago wasn’t great because, yes, we wanted to regenerate and rejuvenate and play a different style of football but we had two of the biggest tournaments on our calendar inside 12 months.
“That’s a little bit unfair on the players coming in. Knowing who they had to replace, as a group. People want to say that everything we’ve done over the last 14 months hinged on 90 minutes, I think they’d be ignoring the fact that some of our players are growing enormously through this period.”
Originally published as Asian Cup 2015: Ange Postecoglou says meticulous planning gone into Socceroos fitness
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