Postecoglou says Australia holds no fear for second World Cup qualifying phase

The Socceroos were emphatic in a 5-1 win over Jordan to move to the next round of Asian qualifying

Roos coach stressed that fans and commentators need to hold more belief in his squad’s ability to beat any of the continent’s powerhouses.

Αnge Postecoglou says he is not concerned with who the Socceroos are drawn against in the final phase of World Cup qualifying.

Australia will continue to chart its course into the promised land of a fourth successive World Cup, after a 5-1 thumping of Jordan on Tuesday night ensured they topped their qualifying group.

Sterner tests await in the last stage starting later this year, and FIFA’s perplexing rankings system could throw the Asia champions a curve ball when it comes to seedings against the region’s best teams including Iran, Japan and South Korea.

But after overseeing his improving side to seven wins and 29 goals in eight group games, Postecoglou stressed that fans and commentators need to hold more belief in his squad’s ability to beat any of the continent’s powerhouses.

“We talk ourselves down so I doubt other people will be pumping us up,” he said.

“We’re growing as a team. Twelve months ago everyone is saying ‘Who’s going to score apart from Timmy (Cahill)?’

“Well Timmy’s still scoring, yet we’re getting multiple goalscorers from all over the place.”

Postecoglou believed his side should have scored another five or six goals and admitted he got “pissed off” watching Abdallah Deeb net a consolation for Jordan.

“People are really worried about rankings and seedings and who we’re going to get,” he said.

“I mean, I don’t get it. Just watch what the team’s doing, that should tell you enough.

“We’re not going to be worried about who get in our group.

“We’ve had some tough groups in every competition that we’ve been in.

“We had a tough group in the World Cup, we had Korea in our group in the Asian Cup.

“We’ve had Jordan – who, don’t forget, finished fifth in the last World Cup campaign in the play-off spot – in our group again.

“And we’ve overcome all those things.

“So whoever we get, we get, and we’ll go at them.”

Teams in the next round

Group winners:

Australia
Iran
Japan
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
South Korea
Thailand
Uzbekistan
Top four runners-up
China
Iraq
Syria
UAE

source: Neos Kosmos