Ange Postecoglou is the right man to steer Australia to Russia 2018 with a little pragmatism.

How Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou can rule from Russia with love.

Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou. Picture: AAP

THREE months of World Cup qualification drama will define Ange Postecoglou’s Socceroos’ legacy – writing from Russia with love or searching for a new calling.

Postecoglou will pay the ultimate price for well intentioned visions of grandeur – twice within a decade – if Australia fails to qualify for Russia 2018.

In 2013 Postecoglou inherited a Socceroos group lined with the last remnants of the “golden generation” led by Tim Cahill. Australia’s home 2015 Asian Cup triumph positioned Postecoglou as the right man to mould a rebuilding national team.

However, missing automatic group stage qualification for Russia behind Japan and unfancied Saudi Arabia has fired forensic scrutiny on Postecoglou’s program.

World Cup qualification means everything to the Australian game, spiritually and commercially.

Postecoglou has attracted stinging appraisals for pursuing a beautiful football philosophy at odds with the cattle he commands. Legends Mark Bosnich and Robbie Slater publicly attacked Postecoglou for embracing a 3-4-3 formation this year that yielded three wins from nine starts. Australia’s defence was taken out its comfort zone at the witching hour of qualification.

Pursuing an expansive blueprint rather than targeting a point in the penultimate qualification loss in Japan meant the knives were sharpened when Australia failed to progress from Asian Group B.

Timing is everything. Postecoglou’s vision could have been executed with effect by a midfield boasting Marc Bresciano, Vinnie Grella, Josip Skoko, Jason Culina, Mile Sterjovski and Brett Emerton during the peak of Australia’s powers at Germany 2006

Former Socceroos boss Guus Hiddink knew a sublime strike quartet of Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell John Aloisi and Josh Kennedy could finish with aplomb. Poor Postecoglou is relying on Cahill, 37, in 2017 as the game breaker for an impotent attack.

Postecoglou, sacked by Football Federation Australia in 2007 after seven barren years steering the national under-17 and under-20 sides, is battling an unwanted symmetry.

Postecoglou knows the history protagonists will use against him with the Socceroos facing the unpalatable fate of his youth outfits.

He was sucked into a live, 10 minute spat with SBS chief analyst Craig Foster in 2006 defending his youth team tactics. It was a counter-productive episode for all concerned that cemented Postecoglou’s youth team demise.

This week it appeared Postecoglou hadn’t learnt from the past. Complaining about “copping two years of garbage” and “being spat out of the industry 10 years ago” did the son of a Greek furniture maker a disservice. The dual A-League title winning coach is better than that.

Ditching a siege mentality and war on pragmatism could buy Postecoglou peace of mind and Australia an escape from a current state of flux neither deserve.

The only perverse benefit of the long road to Russia, if successful, will be four cut throat contests, home and away. Australia must conquer Syria then CONCACAF rivals United States or Honduras - providing priceless match hardening and chemistry.

A final leg tie against the CONCACAF opponent at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium on November 14 would carry all the emotion of Australia’s 2005 World Cup qualification triumph against Uruguay.

Postecoglou resolved to nail a philosophy that meant Australia could progress with panache from a World Cup group stage in Russia. Making up the numbers at Brazil 2014, noted Postecoglou, proved “just qualifying for a World Cup is not as fulfilling as maybe people think”. This assessment revealed a disconnect with supporters on the street.

Missing football’s big dance is no-one’s cup of tea.

Originally published as Ange Postecoglou is the right man to steer Australia to Russia 2018 with a little pragmatism.