Sydney: Australia coach Ange Postecoglou insists he will be not content if his side just scrape through Tuesday’s 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifier against Jordan at the Sydney Football Stadium.
The Socceroos, currently top of Group B with a two-point lead over Jordan, can wrap up top spot as long as they avoid defeat, and advance to the next round of World Cup qualifiers as well as book their place at the 2019 Asian Cup in the process.
Apart from a defeat to the Jordanians in their previous meeting last October, Australia’s campaign has gone without a blemish and progress to the next stage as Group B winners would have been the target at the beginning.
However, while achieving just that might have been good enough in the past, things have changed under Postecoglou, who insists another positive display on Tuesday is equally important for his charges’ development.
“If we get a scrappy result (on Tuesday) and finish top, it’s not going to make me happy,” said the 50-year-old.
“We want to keep progressing our football. The win and top of the group will be a by-product of us playing some good football.
“It’s about continuing to grow in the international arena.
“You’re only going to see the best of our guys once they have 20-30 games. We’re getting to that stage now with some of our guys (but) some of them are still less than 10.
“All these games are really important for them to grow as footballers. It’s always about the performance for us; just getting the result is not the point for us at the moment.”
While there was previously talk emanating from the Socceroos camp of targeting revenge for the 2-0 loss inflicted on them last October, Postecoglou now insists that is the last on their minds.
“Revenge is best left to the movies, this is real life,” he added.
“Whether that’s against an opponent who beat us last time or we beat, it doesn’t really matter.
“If we win tomorrow night, it’s not going to erase what happened in Jordan.
“We want to go out, progress our football and finish this group off strongly.”
Since the start of 2015, Postecoglou has guided Australia to 11 wins in 15 games, with the only two defeats in that time coming against Korea Republic and Jordan.
Photo: Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com