‘Look who I found’: Ange, Guus and Arnie join forces for Socceroos’ England showdown

London: Not for the first time, a lunchtime interaction with Ange Postecoglou has left Socceroos players ready to run through their nearest brick wall.

It used to be Postecoglou’s famous game-day addresses in the meals room, back when he was still in charge of the national team, that did the trick. On Wednesday, all he needed to do was show his face.

Big three ... Ange Postecoglou, Guus Hiddink and Graham Arnold with the Socceroos squad in London.Credit: Jason Aleksander/FA

Australia’s 26-man squad were none the wiser, tucking into their lunch at the team hotel next to Wembley Stadium – where they’ll face England in a glamour friendly on Friday night (Saturday 5.45am AEDT) – when the Tottenham Hotspur boss made a surprise appearance. It marked his first official reunion with the Socceroos since his dramatic resignation in 2017.

And as if that wasn’t enough, he walked in with none other than Guus Hiddink, the mastermind of Australia’s 2006 World Cup campaign – which, until it was superseded 10 months ago by Graham Arnold’s Qatar conquerors, was the country’s best-ever showing.

“I walked them in, Guus and Ange,” said Arnold, who orchestrated the visit.

“They weren’t expecting it. I just said, ‘Look who I found in the cafe downstairs’. The boys all started to laugh. And then we all started clapping – all the staff and players just started clapping.

Guus Hiddink in 2006 during his time as Socceroos’ coach.Credit: AP

“Ange and Guus went around, shook everyone’s hand. Guus congratulated them on a great achievement in Qatar, but [said] there’s a lot more to give in life. And Ange gave a bit of a chat about how we can inspire the future, the kids coming through and the next generations.”

Between Arnold, Postecoglou and Hiddink, that made it three of the four faces on the Socceroos’ coaching Mount Rushmore in the same room. (The fourth is the late Rale Rasic, the 1974 World Cup coach who died earlier this year.)

It’s not as if any extra motivation was needed ahead of the Socceroos’ historic debut at Wembley, and a rare meeting with the old enemy, but it can’t hurt.

Arnold has been in the United Kingdom for several weeks on an ongoing scouting mission ahead of this international window, which also includes a clash with New Zealand on Tuesday night – the last games the Socceroos will play before the new World Cup qualifying cycle begins next month with a home tie against either Bangladesh or the Maldives, and then an away fixture against Palestine, which will presumably be played on neutral territory. Football Australia is awaiting further updates from the Asian Football Confederation on that.

Arnold previously called on his old mentor, Hiddink, to inspire his players on the eve of the last World Cup, and during his travels across England, recently paid Postecoglou – his old A-League rival – a visit at Tottenham Hotspur’s lavish training facility in North London. Only a few current players, like skipper Maty Ryan and midfielders Jackson Irvine and Massimo Luongo, were around during the Postecoglou era.

Ange Postecoglou after the 2015 Asian Cup final.Credit: Brendan Esposito

“Everyone thinks we’re not mates – we’ve been mates for years, it’s just we’ve been competitors as well as coaches,” Arnold said.

“I just thought, the guy has done so much for Australian football, and this is such a special occasion, to bring him in for lunch. And obviously, the same with Guus, because he changed the game in 2006.

“For me, it’s what the Socceroos culture is about. It’s not just about me, it’s not just about the people. It’s about the nation and making sure that the cultural side is right – that any Socceroo who comes in, this is what it’s about. A lot of those guys didn’t know Guus Hiddink, or hadn’t met him before, and a lot hadn’t met Ange. But to have two of the greatest coaches in with them to have lunch was fantastic.”

Some of the players in Arnold’s squad are too young to remember Australia’s famous 3-1 win at Upton Park, when Sven-Goran Eriksson changed England’s entire team at half-time in what was widely interpreted as a sign of disrespect, which later convinced FIFA to change the rules around substitutions in friendlies. Some remember it vividly, and bounced into school back home that morning as their classmates were seemingly talking about the Australian game for the first time.

‘To have two of the greatest coaches in with them to have lunch was fantastic’.

Graham Arnold

Times have changed. Back then, the Socceroos were filled with household names like Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka and Lucas Neill, who were getting regular minutes at some of Europe’s biggest clubs. These days, there is not a single Aussie in a so-called top-five league, and the team is in the midst of a rebuild – while England’s team is filled with superstars, including arguably the world’s top striker, Harry Kane, the Premier League’s most in-form player, Postecoglou’s Tottenham recruit James Maddison, and the red-hot Jude Bellingham, who has eight goals from his first eight games at Real Madrid.

And while England will have one eye on their Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy on Tuesday night, Arnold reckons there is no chance his counterpart Gareth Southgate will take Australia lightly like Eriksson did 20 years ago.

But after shocking the world in Qatar, and two creditable recent performances on the road against Argentina and Mexico, they do have one thing: belief.

“That’s the messaging we’ve been giving the boys: you’ve played against the best. OK, England, they’ve got top players we’re watching every week, but it gets down to the 10 yellow shirts against 10 white shirts, and that mentality,” Arnold said.

“They’re five in the world, we’re 27, but it doesn’t matter. It’s all down to performance on the park. My expectations of the group are always high, and I believe in these boys, and I do believe we’re gonna have a great crack. Not many nations have the mentality and the determination that Australia have. And that’s what we’ll bring to them on Friday night.”

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