Postecoglou relishing once in a lifetime chance

Australia coach Ange Postecoglou says the Socceroos have a chance to win the AFC Asian Cup 2015 and the hearts and minds of Australians.

Australia coach Ange Postecoglou

Australia coach Ange Postecoglou reacts on the touchline during the semi-final win over Saudi Arabia Getty Images)

Postecoglou is acutely aware a victory against Korea Republic in Saturday night's final in Sydney can deliver an unprecedented fillip to football in Australia.
"We haven't won anything in the men's game yet," Postecoglou said.

"And this gives us an opportunity ... to achieve something.

"We're not going to host another, I doubt, in our lifetime.

"You can always dream. If we win it, it will be one of the biggest games ever for our code and our country.

"But we have still got some steps to go first."

The Socceroos advanced to the decider with a comprehensive 2-0 semi-final triumph against United Arab Emirates in Newcastle on Tuesday night.



Australia has netted 12 goals, the most of any nation in the tournament, and Postecoglou said the attacking bent was vital to winning new football fans.

"I think Australian sporting teams, we want them to be really aggressive and proactive and take the game to opponents," he said.

"And I think we have done that this tournament. We have scored more goals than any other nation ... we have created many opportunities and we have only conceded twice.

"So I think the general feeling I get from supporters is that they're loving watching this team play.

"And that is great because we want to be successful but we also want to continue to grow this game in this country.

"And the best way we can do that is by exciting the people who come through the gates."

Australia's spread of scorers at the Asian Cup is even more remarkable given the past reliance on Tim Cahill.

Entering the tournament, Cahill had scored eight of 12 goals in Postecoglou's dozen games as coach.

During the five matches to date in January,10 Socceroos have scored 12 goals, including three to Cahill - the only multiple scorer.

"We never really thought that it was about just Timmy scoring goals," Postecoglou said.

"We knew if we played our style of football, we would get players in positions to score."

Socceroos' Asian Cup attack

:: Goals: 12 (tournament best)
:: Scorers: Tim Cahill (3), Massimo Luongo, Mile Jedinak, James Troisi, Matt McKay, Robbie Kruse, Mark Milligan, Tomi Juric, Trent Sainsbury, Jason Davidson
:: Total shots: 70:: Shots on target: 35
:: Most shots: Juric 9; Cahill and Kruse 8; Troisi, Nathan Burns, Leckie and Milligan 6; Mark Bresciano and Luongo 5.
:: Most assists: Luongo 4 (tournament best); Ivan Franjic and Mathew Leckie 2
:: Chances created: Luongo 13; Leckie 11; Franjic 10

Postecoglou, who said a final without Australia would 'put a dampener' on the tournament, travelled to Sydney on Wednesday with the Socceroos squad to prepare for the decider against Korea Republic.
Sydney bound #onemoregame @afcasiancup @socceroos
Korea Republic has not let in a goal in its five games and downed Australia 1-0 in a group fixture in Brisbane 11 days ago.

But the result of that encounter was largely irrelevant - both teams had already secured passage to the knockout stage - and Postecoglou started his key attacking trio Cahill, Leckie and Kruse on the bench.

The Socceroos were also without influential captain Mile Jedinak, who was recovering from an ankle injury.

Australia still generated plenty of scoring chances - 14 shots to nine - and held 67 per cent of possession in a display that, despite the result, heartened its coach.

"We didn't score last time and we had a number of opportunities to do it," Postecoglou said.

"We had a different line-up that day but after that game we were quite pleased with the performance and we thought we dominated that game.

"Even though we didn't win, there certainly wasn't anything negative coming out of it."


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4 min read
Published 28 January 2015 1:58pm
Updated 28 January 2015 2:11pm

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