With just 50 days to go until the Brazil World Cup kicks off, Ange Postecoglou has a tough job. His team have drawn what some have called the “group of death” facing Spain, Chile and Holland. But the gaffer has never shirked a challenge in his life and he's not about to start churning out soccer cliches. No, Postecoglou talks like a results-driven marketer: data-driven, growing the pie and delivering results ahead of expectations make up his mantra. No game of two halves here.
Postecoglou, who took on the coaching spot in October after his German predecessor Holger Osieck faced the big substitution, has breathed life and national pride into the team as the first Australian coach for a decade.
The feeling is that the Socceroos are entering a new era with a new generation of young players under a new coach with a different approach. That tends to be the case in football, regardless of nation, until the tournament group stage exit or worse, failure to qualify. But if it turns out to be real, it's a story that could play out much like a brand turnaround.
Speaking at a dinner hosted by sports media agency Perform and the FFA in Sydney last night, Ange Postecoglou was open about the challenges and his objectives for the Australian national team.
The good thing about the tough group the team face in round one of the championship, he said, is that there are no expectations on the Socceroos. No one expects the team to get very far so the worst that can happen is those expectations become reality. But at best, the new coach and his team can pull it out the bag and surprise everyone.
On the day of the World Cup draw, Postecoglou said his son sent him a text, when all around were thinking “oh shit” and offered that the tough draw offered his dad a chance to be a legend. To be the coach that turns around the Socceroos and makes them a little better respected on the world soccer stage.
“The World Cup will be an experience for us all, but I don't want a team of players that just want to go to the World Cup - anyone can buy tickets and do that. I want a team of players who want to make a difference. It's a tough group, but the flipside of that is that there's an opportunity to do something that no one expects us to do. We can capitalise on that. Australia is a sporting nation and we never go into any contest thinking we can't win and football is no different,” he said.
“There's a real chance for us all to create a special moment that lasts longer than the competition.”
Data plays a big part in how he runs the team. Every player on the squad has a mobile app, inputting what they eat, their sleep and training hours every day so Postecoglou can measure, monitor and better manage. It's a big aspect of the job. But as with anything, only part of the equation.
“Back in 1995 when I started coaching, our analytics tool was a video recorder and you had to rewind, fast-forward and the tape. Now it's amazing where data analytics in football is going. [Technology] has made the analysis a lot more clear and detailed … but you don't want to overload it. You have to remember I’m not playing PlayStation – players are people and coaching is really about managing people,” he said.
Australia is known world over as a sports mad nation, though largely for cricket and rugby. But Football is catching up, reckons the FFA: Aussies are the second biggest ticket buying nation for games in Brazil, second only to only Americans. Postecoglou, a former Socceroo, hopes that the World Cup will help boost support of the sport and pride in the national team ahead of the Asia Cup, which is being hosted by Australia in January.
The team still needs a major sponsor since Qantas pulled out a year ago. As yet there's no word on who might be filling the spot. But a canny brand could time it right to throw its weight behind the national team as it puts it best foot forward.
“Everything I've done is about growing the game. I win if this game grows and is the biggest game in the county. That's what I want,” said Postecoglou, the marketer's kind of football coach. Now the team just needs a marketer with the balls to back those hoping to stick them in the net in Brazil.
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