Football: Socceroos reach Asian Cup final

Ange Postecoglou. Photo by Getty
Ange Postecoglou. Photo by Getty
Ange Postecoglou was naturally delighted that his Socceroos reached the Asian Cup final yesterday but his pleasure was heightened by the fact they did it playing what he considers the Australian way.

A blistering start with two goals in the first 14 minutes stunned United Arab Emirates at Newcastle Stadium and set the hosts on a path to the Asian Cup title decider against South Korea in Sydney on Saturday.

Australia also reached the final in Qatar four years ago but that was before Postecoglou took over as coach in late 2013 and began his rejuvenation of an ageing squad and the style of football they played.

There have been plenty of dark days since as the team struggled to score and the results failed to come despite some encouraging performances.

It has, however, all come together over the last three weeks.

"I think Australian supporters want their teams to be really aggressive and proactive and taking games to opponents and I think we've done that in this tournament," he told reporters after the 2-0 semi-final victory.

"We've scored more goals than any other team at this tournament and created plenty of chances and we've only conceded twice. I think, the general feeling I'm getting from supporters, is that they are loving watching this team.

"That's great because we want to be successful but we also want to continue to grow this game and the best way to do that is to excite the people who come through the gates."

Another pleasing aspect of the match for Postecoglou was that the goals came from defenders Trent Sainsbury and Jason Davidson, who were the seventh and eighth different goalscorers for the host nation in five matches.

That was particularly welcome given that before the tournament, eight of the 12 goals Australia had scored under Postecoglou had come from Tim Cahill.

"Obviously, there's been a lot of emphasis on Timmy and rightly so he was fantastic in the quarter-final," Postecoglou said of Cahill, who scored twice in the last-eight meeting with China.

"But we've now had plenty of goalscorers at this tournament, which is positive, it's a good sign. We never thought it was just about Tim scoring goals for us."

One small fly in the ointment was a hip injury to right wingback Ivan Franjic but Postecoglou was convinced he would be available to face the South Koreans on Saturday.

"It's the final of a major tournament, unless they chop his leg off, I think he'll play," he joked. 

Add a Comment