Asian Cup 2015: Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou found the strength in his team at the last
IT was the moment for which coaches can scarcely prepare, bringing their team together seconds after it has suffered an equaliser that feels like a mortal blow.
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IT was the moment for which coaches can scarcely prepare, bringing their team together seconds after it has suffered an equaliser that feels like a mortal blow.
Finding the right words is a subject not much covered in the coaching manual — not when a side has been 90 seconds from winning the Asian Cup, repelled all advances but finally been breached at the death.
But thanks to months of intense fitness work, Ange Postecoglou was able to turn a mirror back on to his players, and show them why they held the trump cards still.
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His team had been rocked back on its heels by Son Heung-min’s last-gasp leveller, but rediscovered their poise so quickly that it was they who began extra time like a team reborn.
“We were gutted at the equaliser, but Ange just said to believe and give everything you’ve got,” said winger Matthew Leckie.
“You know you’re the fittest team, and it will just make the story that much sweeter, that was his message.
“When the 90 minutes were up and we got in the huddle, he said it’s s ... that we’ve copped a goal but it’s happened now. You guys just have to keep working hard, and winning in extra time will just make the story even better.”
Postecoglou also reminded them of a salient fact — that the concession of a goal had brought things level, not sent the team behind.
“We are not losing he reminded us, they have come from behind, and they think they have won it,” said Sainsbury.
“We just had to regroup. After that they made a few substitutions to try and get back and they couldn’t take advantage.”
Korean midfielder Ki Sung-Yeung admitted afterwards that “I think Australia had more strength than us and that’s why they scored” — which was exactly what Postecoglou predicted.
“The one thing he did mention was that they were gone on their feet, they were on their last legs,” said captain Mile Jedinak.
“We sensed that out there and that was great for us because we had the minutes, we had the fitness behind us.”
For Postecoglou himself, the message he needed to impart was simple.
“I just wanted to get them refocused,” he said. “With half an hour of football left I knew there was plenty of time for us to win it, and we’d been stronger than anyone else in the late periods of games.
“Korea put so much into that goal that they were spent, and it was a matter of us realigning ourselves and making sure when the opportunity arose we took it.”
Originally published as Asian Cup 2015: Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou found the strength in his team at the last
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