Aurelio Vidmar wants the Socceroos Asian Cup bond to spread to the Olyroos

OLYROOS coach Aurelio Vidmar is hoping Australia’s Asian Cup spirit will carry over to the nation’s Olympic Games qualification campaign next month.

09/02/15. Aurelio Vidmar talks about his job with the Socceroos at the Asian Cup and the work that lies ahead as the Olyroos try to qualify for the Asian Cup. Noelle Bobrige

OLYROOS coach Aurelio Vidmar is hoping Australia’s Asian Cup spirit will carry over to the nation’s Olympic Games qualification campaign next month.

The SA-based mentor played a huge part in securing Australia’s Asian Cup glory as Ange Postecoglou’s assistant coach after an intense 36 days in camp.

Vidmar said the group was so close other Asian Cup nation bosses were asking what the secret was to the bond.

But after spending a week at home in Adelaide, Vidmar is now plotting the Olyroos pathway to Rio.

“The players were unbelievable,’’ Vidmar said yesterday.

“On the very last day the feeling among the players was as it was when they first came into Socceroos camp on December 27.

“They’ve just got this unbelievable bond, it was excellent they were locked down for so long and they were just one solid group.

“It was intense but when you come home and slow down it was a shock to my system, you slow down a bit and you think ‘what’s happening to my body?’ You do feel like you’re fatigued but with the momentum in camp you just keep on kicking on.”

Vidmar has now set a different target after the Olyroos 2012 London Games project was derailed.

At that failed qualifying campaign the Adelaide City and Adelaide United legend discovered the potency of two of the classiest players at this recent Asian Cup.

Vidmar saw star playmaker Omar Abdulrahman and Ahmed Khalil from United Arab Emirates first hand in 2011 which recently helped Postecoglou’s side when Tony Vidmar was scouting information about their Asian Cup semi-final opponents before Australia won 2-0.

Only three nations from the Asian Football Confederation will qualify for Rio.

Australia must first top Group F of the 2016 AFC Under-23 Championship qualification with games against Myanmar, Hong Kong and Chinese Tapai in Taiwan next month. The Olyroos then need to finish in the first three nations of the actual 2016 AFC Under-23 Championship in Qatar in January to secure a berth in Rio.

“There is a lot of digging to find a (Olyroos) group that we are monitoring,’’ Vidmar said.

“So now we’re putting a program into place — a monitoring system where they can actually fill out some data for us.

“We’ve got a group of 50 players (in Australia and across the world) and we’ll monitor these guys.”

Originally published as Aurelio Vidmar wants the Socceroos Asian Cup bond to spread to the Olyroos