‘Beautiful Chaos’ by Adam Peacock: Ange Postecoglou’s rally call after World Cup demise

AHEAD of Saturday’s Asian Cup final, Adam Peacock recounts in his World Cup ebook Beautiful Chaos some prophetic words from Ange Postecoglou.

CURITIBA, BRAZIL - JUNE 23: Mathew Leckie of Australia controls the ball during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group B match between Australia and Spain at Arena da Baixada on June 23, 2014 in Curitiba, Brazil. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

FOX Sports football’s Adam Peacock recently released an ebook, ‘Beautiful Chaos’ about the Socceroos’ World Cup campaign in Brazil last year.

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In an exclusive - and pertinent considering the magnitude of Saturday’s Asian Cup final against South Korea - extract, Adam recounts some prophetic words from Matt McKay and Ange Postecoglou after the final group defeat to Spain in Curitiba.

The Socceroos are out of the World Cup, and in the wash-up of the 3-0 loss to Spain, Matt McKay – who marked Andreas Iniesta – and Ange Postecoglou take stock of where to now.

This was a young, inexperienced side. A variety of reasons for their defeat could be offered – retirements, injuries, form, Ange’s ideals and the failings of systems past.

Nine months before they were beaten 6-0 by Brazil, 6-0 by France and Australian football was diving towards rock bottom.

Alex Wilkinson congratulates Fernando Torres in Brazil.

With a fearless attacking approach, Cuiaba and Porto Alegre re-ignited hopes of what is possible.

Curitiba served as a brutal reminder of how near-impossible becoming the best is. It is about more than 90 minutes, or a month in camp.

Generations can’t afford to be stalled like Matt McKay was for 16 months when the NSL was cancelled and the A-League was being organised.

“We need to believe in the way we are set up to play and we do that and the players are together for a long period of time and players keep improving, going to big clubs, improve physically and mentally, we’ll become a better nation,” says McKay.

Mathew Leckie has continued his rise to the top after impressing in Brazil.

“Everyone wrote us off before the tournament, (and) to prove that we could compete at least, didn’t get the embarrassment of a complete flogging like we did before the World Cup was reassuring. I thought we played a really attractive style of football, things moving in the right direction, just not as quick as it needed to be.”

As for Postecoglou, the three losses rankled, dreams of shocking the world were crushed.

Yet with that realisation came more clarity than ever before.

“There’s no reason why we can’t (play like Spain one day),” he said with typical bluntness.

Mile Jedinak embraces Sergio Ramos after the game in Curitiba.

“That’s my constant battle of trying to get some sort of understanding that the only ceiling we have is whatever we put ourselves. There’s something in the DNA of an Australian footballer that he will accept any challenge you throw at him.

“That’s not necessarily the case with other nationalities. There’s always some sort of baggage. But not with an Australian footballer; you got to give him the tools, got to give him the belief and the understanding about how we try to play football like that.

“When I started the whole Brisbane thing, playing possession football and taking it to a ridiculous degree, it was just to prove to people we can play like that. Yes we had (German import Thomas) Broich and one or two others, but for the majority it was just Aussie footballers playing the game as it’s seen overseas. There’s no reason we can’t do that.

“I don’t think we’ve ever tested the boundaries of what the average Australian footballer can do.

James Troisi brings down Juanfran.

“As soon as they become a senior footballer, we put them into a box. He’s good physically, he can run, he’s hard at it, all these Australian terminologies we use for our sportsmen, but we don’t test his footballing ability and give him the tools and understanding of how to use them.

“There’s still a long way to go in the kind of footballers we produce, but I certainly think we are getting there and we’re far more advanced than we were years ago. Now the challenge becomes to get our teams to play that way.”

Beautiful Chaos, by Adam Peacock, is available for just $7.99 via iTunes, Amazon, Good Play and all major ebook retailers. Click on the link for more info -

http://www.xoum.com.au/shop/beautiful-chaos-ebook/

Originally published as ‘Beautiful Chaos’ by Adam Peacock: Ange Postecoglou’s rally call after World Cup demise