International football returns to Sydney on Tuesday night as Australia host Jordan at the Sydney Football Stadium.
The hosts need just a point to progress to the next stage of World Cup qualifying for Russia 2018, but it promises to be a tricky test against a Jordan side that has already defeated the Socceroos 2-0 in Amman last time they met.
Mile Jedinak, who came off at half time in last Thursday’s game against Tajikistan, did not train on Sunday but will not be risked should he pull up sore after the final session.
Despite striker Nathan Burns saying he is after revenge against Jordan, Postecoglou was not sharing the same mentality, adding that he would wait until after Monday’s final training session to settle on a starting XI that will see changes.
“Revenge is best left to the movies, this is real life, we just want to go out there tomorrow night, progress our football and finish this group off strongly,” Postecoglou said.
“We’ve got stronger as the qualification process has developed, we want to finish it off tomorrow night and if we win tomorrow night it’s not going to erase what happened in Jordan, that’s not how football works.
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“We played well the other night, we want to replicate it and continue to progress our football, that’s always the objective.
“Whether that’s against an opponent we’ve lost or won against already, it becomes irrelevant, it doesn’t matter.”
Postecoglou’s well documented footballing philosophy focuses on performance as well as results, and the coach says a scrappy win would not please him at all despite needing only a draw to secure progression.
Part of the looming test will take the form of ex-Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp in the opposing dugout. Postecoglou is refusing to be drawn into the hype, but was complimenting of the visitors’ new-found depth.
“I don’t think we’ll see anything remarkably different, he (Redknapp) has had a few days with them so I think he’s a very experienced manager and he’ll know how much influence he’ll have in a few days,” he said.
“We’re a stronger team today than we were 12 months ago and I think that’s because we have more depth. It’s definitely evolving, the idea is we keep continuing and stay disciplined to always give opportunities to guys who are warranted.
“Making sure the guys in the squad are aware of the expectations, it’s a lot healthier than what it was, when I first took over it was probably worrying about guys getting injured or being late to camp or missing certain players.
“We’re getting closer to the point now, not that I want players to miss out, I’d rather have 30 players banging on the door to play, if we get something unfortunate happening even late or in camp, that we get closer to the position where we can cover that.”
Likewise, Australia boast a number of fresh faces in their own squad. Apo Giannou debuted against Tajikistan and enjoyed a terrific maiden appearance, while full-backs Jason Geria and Alex Gersbach have not yet been called upon.
The boss hinted some untried talent could see game time on Tuesday.
“Guys continue to grow in the international arena. That’s the other aspect of it, at the moment we’re giving guys international games which is important, you’re only going to see the best of our players once they get to 30 games for Australia,” he said.
“We’re edging towards that now where some of our guys still have less than 10 caps, all these games are really important for them to grow as footballers.”
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